The Exorcist is one of those rare films that just keep on giving. Despite decades slipping by, we’re still just as fascinated by William Friedkin’s 1973 film, based upon the novel by William Peter Blatty.

Thanks to a tweet sent out by Eyes on Cinema, we now have a rare look at some of the storyboards for the film drawn by production designer Bill Malley, which are just friggin’ magnificent. Check them out below.

Synopsis:
When a charming 12-year-old girl (Linda Blair) takes on the characteristics and voices of others, doctors say there is nothing they can do. As people begin to die, the girl’s mother (Ellen Burstyn) realizes her daughter has been possessed by the devil–and that her daughter’s only possible hope lies with two priests (Max Von Sydow and Jason Miller) and the ancient rite of demonic exorcism.

The post Horror History – The Exorcist: Vintage Storyboards appeared first on Dread Central.

Babak Anvari’s film Under the Shadow is up for an English language remake, on which Anvari will serve as executive producer, but right now we have the official trailer and a new one-sheet for you! Dig it!

The original film stars Narges Rashidi, Avin Manshadi, Bobby Naderi, Ray Haratian, and Arash Marandi.

Look for it to be arriving in theaters on October 7th.

Synopsis:
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 through their apartment.

The post Under the Shadow – New Poster and Trailer appeared first on Dread Central.

I remember when I first saw the trailer for Exorcist III. One of the most startling moments found within it was a moment when a statue of a crucified Jesus Christ opened his eyes. I can still hear the crowd gasping around me.

The below footage was filmed inside of the Chapel of Saltillo in Mexico’s state of Coahuila de Zaragoza and shows the figure quickly open its eyes and then seem to slam its eyes shut. The clip has thus far left paranormal investigators and priests scratching their heads.

Take a look below, and tell us what you think. Optical illusion? Doctored video? Something else? We’ll have an update on the story from Mr. Dark during tonight’s episode of Brainwaves.

Statue Eyes Closed

Statue Eyes Open

Explore The Gasp Menagerie!

Have a weird story? Potential evidence of the supernatural, or at least something hard to explain? Spot any creepy critters out there roaming the wilds? LET ME KNOW! I’d love to talk about it and possibly write it up right here in the Gasp Menagerie. You’ll get appropriate credit, of course, and everyone else will get fresh creepy (as opposed to fresh Creepy, which, trust me… nobody wants that) to enjoy. As always, I can be found at mrdark@dreadcentral.com. Now get out there, find some weird, and let’s get this party started.

The post Jesus Christ Opens His Eyes in The Gasp Menagerie appeared first on Dread Central.

After Juan Antonio Bayona departed the sequel to World War Z back in January, the project sat around silent as can be. Today’s news, though? Today it comes screaming back! Variety is reporting that Brad Pitt is zeroing in on an old friend for the sequel.

Pitt, along with Paramount and Skydance, is in talks with David Fincher to direct the follow-up to the 2013 smash hit. Pitt, who’s returning to star in and produce the next World War Z installment, recently met with a handful of other directors but is said to be zeroing in on Fincher for the movie, which is expected to start filming in early 2017.

Skydance and Paramount had no comment on the development.

According to sources, Fincher and Pitt met two weeks ago to discuss the possibility of Fincher boarding the zombie tentpole. The talks were initially lukewarm, but sources now tell Variety that negotiations are much further down the road.

A Fincher-Pitt reunion on World War Z would mark their fourth film together, having previously collaborated on Se7en, Fight Club, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

The original was a massive hit, having grossed $540 million worldwide despite a rocky production, which included extensive re-shoots. Plot details are unknown for the sequel, other than it still being set during a zombie apocalypse.

World War Z is based on the best-selling novel by Max Brooks.

The post David Fincher in Talks for World War Z 2 appeared first on Dread Central.

If Netflix had not already hit all the nostalgia nodes of our lizard brains, they managed to dig up even more memories from three decades ago with a “Stranger Things” themed toy.

We did a short unboxing video featuring the surprise that arrived in the mail recently…

And as a bonus, we also have the raw audio from an interview we did with Charlie Heaton, who played Jonathan Byers on the hit show!

Look for more on the second season of “Stranger Things” (see our set visit here) as it comes.

The post Netflix Stranger Things Surprise Unboxing Video appeared first on Dread Central.

Developed by NoClip

Published by Gambitious Digital Entertainment

Available on PC through Steam

Suitable for ages 16+

It’s like Lemmings, but with zombies.

K thanks for joining me! Don’t forget to like and subscribe, leave a comment below, and post to your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Grinder about how much you love Ted! New articles, posted once a whenever I feel like it!

Zombie Night Terror alternate box art

Oh, sorry, did you want more? Well okay, I guess I could explain to you how Lemmings works. It’s the classic puzzle game about parenthood, AKA making sure small mindless annoyances don’t murder themselves in every conceivable way. However, unlike actual child care, some people actually enjoy Lemmings.

Seeing as how I was a child that needed caring for when Lemmings came out, I was never too fond of the series. I couldn’t fathom why making every lurching pixel explode in bloody piles wasn’t winning me the game. I certainly wouldn’t call it a mature rated game based on the content, but I’m sure you have to be older than 10 to just get the basic concept of preventing murder rather than causing it. I’ve never gone back to it, so just like Lost Vikings and Road Rash, it sits in my brain as a vague familiarity rather than a niggling nostalgia.

So I wasn’t exactly begging for Zombie Night Terror, but it did have two things going for it. First, the rosy tinted glasses of fond memories wouldn’t bias me against it from the get-go. Second, this one actually wanted me to kill things. My childhood prayers have been answered! Similar to games like Infectonator, Zombie Night Terror tasks you with turning as many people as you can into the shambling dead. Certain challenges require you to keep your ravenous corpses alive (prevent them from being re-killed, more accurately?), but as long as you are turning people into zombies, you are winning.

It’s still bad for your own zombies to die, but it happens so often that you won’t blink at throwing a dozen to kill a single human.

Just as in Lemmings, a limited supply of modifiers are available to make your zombies fulfill a specific function. Some will act as staircases, others will act as walls to turn zombies around. Use these sparingly, as they generally will prevent the zombie from working as a brain devourer. You’ll frequently have to detonate your own zombies at the perfect moment to split forces, solve puzzles, and coordinate attacks. So yeah, exactly like Lemmings.

If there is any area that Zombie Night Terror differentiates from Lemmings, it’s in the tone. Rather than a legion of amicable and adorable lemmings slowly and mindlessly plodding their way towards a finish line, this is a horde of zombies slowly and mindlessly plodding their way towards a banquet of flesh. Whereas that could be done lightheartedly á la Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse, Zombie Night Terror is decidedly not. The source of the zombie virus is a street drug, and most of your early victims are pimps and low level pushers who as ready to smack a hooker as a zombie. It’s a bizarrely dark backdrop given the mad scientist with a lab full of mines and laser traps. I can’t tell if the game suffers from a discordant tone, or if the developers think “smacking hoes” is legitimately humorous.

On the other hand, there is disco!

Still, none of that makes the actual game bad. The puzzles are interesting, with plenty of challenge even in the first few levels. It’s nice to play a game that actually lets me fail a few times before I can win. Figuring out the nuances didn’t feel like a chore, with enough information immediately present to make a good guess at a solution before the nuance complicates things. Even though this style of game is not my cup of tea, Zombie Night Terror is still a fun game well worth the asking price. I don’t see myself coming back to it, but if you are a huge Lemmings fan then I’m sure this will scratch that itch.

I review puzzle games with a bit of a different metric. There are those games that are so frustrating that I can’t bother playing, but those are few and far between. For most, I will get through some of the levels, and and up calling it quits. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad game, but just not my thing. Then there are those that I think most people will want to play to completion, experiencing every map and the unique twist they bring. It’s only a rare few games that will pull people past that, into the realm of the challenge objectives and special conditions. I find Zombie Night Terror to be somewhere between the second and third level. I don’t really see it as a game people will want to explore every nook and cranny of. It’s certainly challenging, but there’s not enough interesting stuff to explore or reason to do so. At $13, it’s certainly worth it, but don’t expect it to resurrect your favorite dead franchise.

The post Zombie Night Terror (Video Game) appeared first on Dread Central.

What’s happening, dummies? Summer is in full swing, the sun has been relentless, and the hottest show on the planet is back with the second half of our 2-part episode on “Stranger Things.” (You can check out Part 1 here.)

On this episode we drink a LOT of beers in celebration of Matt’s birthday, we get into the new Pumpkinhead remake, Matt makes some bold claims, we “surrender Dorothy” to the Bossfight, we discuss why so many horror fans seem to be wrestling fans and vice versa, and we cover the final four episodes of “Stranger Things.”

Could “Stranger Things” be a Silent Hill sequel? Why the fuck did Nancy end up with Steve? Is Eleven alive? Was the dog behind everything? Hit download and find out! Where we’re going… we don’t need eyes to see; it’s the Who Goes There Podcast Episode 78. See you next Tuesday… cunts.

The Who Goes There Podcast is available to subscribe to on iTunes right here. Not an iTunes user? You can listen on our Dread Central page. Can’t get enough of our terrible jokes? Why not creep on all of our social media? Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

The post Who Goes There Podcast: Episode 78 – Stranger Things Episodes 5-8 appeared first on Dread Central.

Hospitals can be among the spookiest places on earth, which should make for some serious chills to go along with the chuckles in Season 2 of “Scream Queens.”  Fox has just unveiled a new promo featuring K.Flay‘s “Blood in the Cut.” It’s almost time to scrub up!

About “Scream Queens” Season 2:
Premiering Tuesday, September 20 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), on FOX, Season Two of “SCREAM QUEENS” graduates from the college campus and into an all-new location, as a terrifyingly funny mystery will begin once again. Season Two is set in a hospital, where some of the most fascinating and bizarre medical cases are under observation.

Golden Globe Award nominee Jamie Lee Curtis, Emma Roberts, Lea Michele, Abigail Breslin, Keke Palmer, Glen Powell, and Niecy Nash are set to reprise their Season One characters. Emmy Award nominee John Stamos, Taylor Lautner, and James Earl also joins the cast as the series’ new male leads with Colton Haynes and Cecily Strong as guest stars.

“Scream Queens” is from Ryan Murphy Television and Brad Falchuk Teley-Vision in association with 20th Century Fox Television. The series is created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan, who also serve as writers and directors on the series. It is executive produced by Murphy, Falchuk, Brennan, and Alexis Martin Woodall (“American Horror Story: Hotel”).

The post New Scream Queens Season 2 Promo Pours Blood in the Cut appeared first on Dread Central.

Charles Band and Full Moon Pictures are back with another entry in the Killjoy franchise, Killjoy’s Psycho Circus, and we have a quick first look for you! Dig it!

John Lechago directs the film. Raylin Joy, Victoria De Mare, Maria Olsen, and Trent Haaga star.

Synopsis:
Killjoy, the demon of vengeance, trickster god, and killer clown, has finally made it to Earth! Along with his gruesome crew Freakshow, Punchy, and the sexy/psychotic Batty Boop, Killjoy is free to terrorize mortals in new and excruciating ways. But two years down the road Killjoy discovers that life on Earth is a drag, filled with inconveniences such as eating, breathing, taxes, and immigration issues. His crew has left for other jobs, and Batty Boop has gone her own way after a bitter lovers’ quarrel. Not to mention that Killjoy is now semi-mortal!

Meanwhile, back in Hell, Beelzebub is on trial for letting Killjoy escape. The only way that Beelzebub can redeem himself is to trap Killjoy’s spirit and bring it back in a box. For this mission he is granted a monumental spaceship capable of destroying entire cities!

Killjoy has finally settled in, starring in his own web series called PSYCHO CIRCUS, as well as running a movie and merchandise company with the notorious Hambo the Ranch Hand. The challenges of being a producer are nothing compared to the challenges of staying alive after Beelzebub’s assassins appear to kill the demon clown and capture his spirit. Killjoy will have to find a way to reunite his gang of clowns in order to defeat Beelzebub and his minions!

It all comes together in an epic battle in KILLJOY’S PSYCHO CIRCUS

The post First Look: Killjoy’s Psycho Circus appeared first on Dread Central.

It was back in March when we last updated you on the spooky new flick from Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, entitled Haunted, but finally we have some new casting news for you! According to Deadline Rose Leslie (The Last Witch Hunter, “Game of Thrones”) will play the lead in the DreamWorks thriller, joining the previously set Alfre Woodard.

The film is said to be inspired by the 1898 Henry James Gothic ghost story The Turn of the Screw and was born out of Steven Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment’s desire to “make a scary film.”

In The Turn of the Screw, a governess hired by a bachelor to take care of his niece and nephew starts seeing ghosts at the country home. When she confides in the maid, she learns that the ghosts are former employees of the estate: Peter Quint and Miss Jessel. The governess begins to suspect that her wards, Flora and Miles, can see the ghosts, but the children refuse to acknowledge the sightings. She is afraid for them, especially when the ghosts appear inside the house.

Haunted was scripted by Chad Hayes and Carey Hayes (The Conjuring). The film is being produced by Roy Lee, John Middleton, and Scott Bernstein.

The post Game of Thrones’ Rose Leslie Haunted by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo appeared first on Dread Central.

We told you that the Duffer Brothers’ “Stranger Things” came to be as a result of Warner Bros. passing on the duo for their upcoming reiteration of Stephen King’s It, but today that film’s producer, Dan Lin, spoke a bit about the shoot that’s currently going on under the direction of the very capable Andy Muschietti (Mama).

“I think a great analogy is actually ‘Stranger Things,’ and we’re seeing it on Netflix right now,” said Lin to Collider regarding the tone of the film and the relationship with its child stars. “It’s very much an homage to ’80s movies, whether it’s classic Stephen King or even Spielberg. Think about Stand by Me as far as the bonding amongst the kids. But there is a really scary element in Pennywise.”

Lin continues, “[You’re] catching me at a really interesting time because we’ve been shooting mostly the kids’ work, and now Pennywise is starting. We clearly had a great dynamic amongst the kids. Really great chemistry is always a challenging thing with a movie like It because you’re casting kids who don’t have a ton of experience, but it ended up being really natural. Each kid, like a Goonies or Stand by Me, has a very specific personality; and they’re forming the Losers’ Club obviously. And now finally the evil force is coming into our movie. We’ve spent a few months getting the kids to bond, and now they’re going to fight this evil, scary clown.”

As for the new Pennywise played by Bill Skarsgard… “His build is really interesting. He’s really tall and lanky and feels a little clown-like in his movement. When he came in — we had a lot of different actors read — and when he came in, he had a different spin on the character that got us really excited. You’ve had Heath Ledger doing almost a clown joker; you’ve seen obviously Tim Curry as a clown. We wanted someone who created a Pennywise character that would stand on its own, and Bill came in and created this character that frankly freaked us out.”

In the new It adaptation, Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Nicholas Hamilton, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, and Jeremy Ray Taylor will play the kids Pennywise terrorizes.

Creature performer Javier Botet has signed on for an undisclosed role, but given the actor’s body of work, we cannot wait to see what he has cooked up! Owen Teague will play Patrick Hocksetter, part of a group of bullies who torment the Losers’ Club. He is a psychopath and keeps a refrigerator full of animals that he’s killed.

Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Seth Grahame-Smith, David Katzenberg, and Barbara Muschietti are producing.

The story follows a group of kids called the Losers’ Club who defeat a creature called It. Years later, the creature returns; and the former club members, now adults, have to band together again even though they have no memory of the first battle. The story will be spread across two films.

The post Producer Talks It Remake; Film Is Akin to Stranger Things appeared first on Dread Central.

Now that the USA Network has given “Falling Water” a premiere date, the powers-that-be have also released a new trailer for the upcoming series.  You’ll be able to watch this mind-bending drama beginning October 13th.

“Falling Water,” from Universal Cable Productions, is executive produced by Gale Anne Hurd (“The Walking Dead”) of Valhalla Entertainment, Blake Masters (“Brotherhood”), and the late Emmy Award-winning Henry Bromell (“Homeland”). David Ajala (Fast & Furious 6), Lizzie Brochere (“American Horror Story: Asylum”), and Will Yun Lee (“Hawaii 5-0”) star.

Synopsis:
Three unrelated people slowly realize that they are dreaming separate parts of a single common dream. Each of them is on a mysterious and highly personal quest — one is searching for his missing girlfriend, one is searching for a lost child, one is looking to cure his catatonic mother — and it is the clues found in their collective dream that come to guide them. The deeper they dig, though, the more they come to realize that their missions touch on stakes that are much larger than their individual agendas… that the visions found in their common dream just might hold the key to the fate of the world.

The post Falling Water Gets a Premiere Date and New Trailer appeared first on Dread Central.

I’ve seen enough movies to know to stay the hell out of the woods, but that doesn’t stop most people from trekking into them, never to be seen again. Actually, I’m grateful to these nuts because they make great fodder for horror films.

According to The Tracking Board, David Bruckner is set to write and direct The Ritual, an adaptation of the award-winning horror novel by Adam Nevill, for Andy Serkis’ The Imaginarium. Rafe Spall, Robert James-Collier, and Sam Troughton are attached to star.

Nevill’s novel centers on four friends from college who head off into the Scandinavian wild in an effort to get away from it all and reconnect with each other. But what begins as a trip of bonding and friendship turns into a nightmare when they take a shortcut and end up lost. Some of them are injured, and they seem stranded with nothing but forest in every direction. While trying to find their way back to civilization, they come across what seems to be an abandoned cottage. Inside they discover ancient artifacts on the wall and bones scattered on the floor in a sacrificial manner. They soon discover that something is stalking them and is intent on keeping them from leaving the woods.

Joe Barton (Humans) was previously attached to set to adapt Nevill’s novel, which won the August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel in 2012.

Jonathan Cavendish will produce for The Imaginarium with Richard Holmes and Philip Robertson. Chloe Sizer will oversee for Imaginarium, while Laura Wilson will oversee for eOne, which will finance and distribute.

Bruckner wrote and directed the 2008 horror film The Signal before tackling a segment of the horror anthology V/H/S in 2012. He most recently wrote and directed Southbound for Willowbrook Regent and The Orchard. Bruckner is currently in development with the thriller Intrusion from Lava Bear Films.

The post David Bruckner Ready to Adapt The Ritual appeared first on Dread Central.

Production wrapped on Showtime’s “Twin Peaks” revival several months ago, and since then, David Lynch has been editing the footage.  Where do things stand now?  Well, according to Showtime President/CEO David Nevins, “…we don’t even know for sure how many episodes there will be.”

Was he kidding when he made that half-joke/half-announcement to the Television Critics Association today?  It turns out he was dead serious.

Per Indiewire, the network never saw any scripts beyond two that Lynch and Mark Frost submitted early in the process.  Showtime president of programming Gary Levine revealed that, instead, they received thick “binders” that combined all of their musings and ideas from 25 years. Therefore, there was never “a proscribed number of episodes” in that way.

As for the premiere date, nothing is set.  Nevins said that they are aiming for the “first half of” 2017, and Levine added, “It is a process of seeing how it evolves. It’s an organism that continues to evolve. Until [Lynch] feels that he’s figured that out, we don’t know.”  And don’t expect it to be a conventional release either.

“Everything about ‘Twin Peaks’ is going to be unconventional — unconventional in the handling of it, unconventional in how we market it,” Nevins said. “I really want to embrace the unusualness of it. I think it is quite possible that we’re not going to do a traditional release pattern. I don’t know what exactly that means. I’ve had a couple conversations with David, but I kind of want to embrace the unexpectedness of it. I can definitely see longer episodes or… It’s a question of how do we release it linearly? How do we release it for people who want to stream it? There may be a difference between the two.”

No footage was shown, but Showtime did provide a reel in which some of the actors raved about how awesome the show is going to be. For example, Kyle McLachlan offered, “Revisiting this territory, there’s a freshness to it; there’s lightness to it. There’s nothing I can say to describe this. Absolutely wonderful.”

Levine added, “We were instantly transported [while watching the dailies]. These weren’t even cut scenes… The tone, the feel, it is so singular. We can’t wait to show it to the world.”

Nevins expounded, “It’s really gorgeous and has that feeling of sort of unsettling, eerie mystery and also sometimes really funny. I think it has a real sense of incredible specificity of Lynch’s characters.”

Related Story: Entire Cast of Twin Peaks Revival Series Revealed

About “Twin Peaks” on Showtime:
The critically acclaimed, groundbreaking television phenomenon “Twin Peaks” returns as a limited series to Showtime in 2017. Currently in production, “Twin Peaks” is written and produced by series creators and executive producers David Lynch and Mark Frost and is directed entirely by Lynch. While the full mystery awaits, fans can expect many familiar faces, including Golden Globe winner and Emmy Award nominee Kyle MacLachlan, who reprises his role as FBI Agent Dale Cooper.

Widely considered one of the most influential broadcast series of all time, “Twin Peaks” followed the inhabitants of a quaint Northwestern town who were stunned after their homecoming queen Laura Palmer was shockingly murdered. The sheriff welcomed the help of FBI agent Dale Cooper, who came to town to investigate the case. As Cooper conducted his search for Laura’s killer, the town’s secrets were gradually exposed. The mystery that ensued set off an eerie chain of events that plunged the inhabitants of Twin Peaks into a darker examination of their very existence. Twenty-five years later, the story continues…

The post TCA Summer 2016: Twin Peaks Update – Episode Count Still Unknown; Release Date Still Fluid appeared first on Dread Central.

There’s something magical about gruesome dismemberment. Hacking off limbs, blasting off heads, turning hordes of imps into larger hordes of bits and pieces of imps, all good fun. It’s all part of what makes the Warhammer 40k universe so special to me. It’s a grimdark future, where the only light is the muzzle flash of a bolter and the illumination of a torch bearing Servo-skull.

Luckily, the people over at NeocoreGames get me. The people behind the critically acclaimed Van Helsing series, they hope to bring that same quality dungeon crawler gameplay to the Warhammer 40k universe with Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr. That means hacking, slashing, shooting, explosions, and lots of it. Only this time, there’s a lot more blood and body parts. Check out the new trailer:

I got to meet the team at E3 2016 briefly, so here are some more details on the game for those interested. First off, the name isn’t as much nonsense as it seems. Set in the Warhammer 40k universe, you play as an Inquisitor. Inquisitors are basically the secret police of the Imperium, rooting out the corruption of chaos and foul Xenos wherever they go. Early in the game, you come across the derelict spacecraft “Martyr,” which serves as namesake for the game. There are plenty of mysteries to unlock in the sprawling halls of Martyr, and unlocking these secrets will be the main narrative drive of the game.

That’s not all there is to do, of course, as there are thousands of generated missions for you to tackle alone or with up to four friends. Neocore wants to make a game as robust and far-reaching as its source material and plans to update it for months after release. It’s a story they have been working on for years, so expect a lot out of this package.

This is definitely one that I’ll be keeping an eye on, and if you’re a fan of dungeon crawlers, Warhammer 40k, or just lots of blood and guts, you should too.

Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr is scheduled to release in 2017 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

The post New Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr Trailer Brings the Blood appeared first on Dread Central.

If you’re like me, then you’ve been waiting for this moment to come since The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was announced. I absolutely love these games, and have played through the entirety of each part of the series multiple times. I’m the kind of guy that will play through The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings just to see how it effects The Witcher 3. Hell, I’m even excited for Gwent! What I do not love is having to start all over again because a DLC added a piece of gear that I missed and absolutely MUST COLLECT IT!

So Game of the Year editions are great for me, since I am absolutely sure that I will able to get all of the stuff without missing anything. I figured that I would wait maybe a few months for the full collection before diving fully into The Witcher 3. I did not account for it taking a year and a half. It’s not a bad thing, since in that time, CD Projekt Red has released a plethora of free content, and two excellent expansions in the forms of Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Game of the Year Edition promises to be the definitive version, including every single costume, weapon, alternate Gwent card, and honest to goodness content pack released. Check out the announcement trailer:

<i>The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt – Game of the Year Edition</i> will be available August 30th on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

The post The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Gets A Game Of The Year Edition Release Date appeared first on Dread Central.

Personally, nothing scares the shit out of me like the deep ocean. Not only is it almost exclusively inhabited by weird alien shit and living nightmare tentacles, but what’s lurking in the crushing dark is as terrifying as what you can see. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to swim in deep water without envisioning some gaping maw far bellow, watching me unseen and waiting to swallow me whole.

Anyone that played Half-Life knows exactly why.

So when I watched the trailer for Diluvion, I was practically just waiting for some creepy shit to come along and fuck up my good night’s sleep. The game doesn’t sound exactly horror, but I postulate that it’s impossible to make a game about the deep ocean without some kind of horrifying monstrosities. Sure enough, as soon as the music gets dark and the lights dim, here comes a screaming colossal crab monster to inhabit my dreams. Check it out:

From the Official Press Release:

Gambitious Digital Entertainment has announced it is partnering with independent developer Arachnid Games to publish the deep sea action and exploration game Diluvion. Inspired by the imaginative works of Jules Verne and the ship-to-ship combat of classics like Wing Commander and Freelancer, Diluvion puts players in command of their very own submarines in a vast, open world of forbidding ocean.

After a great flood devastates the world and its civilizations, humanity’s last remnants are left to struggle against each other for limited resources and survival beneath an impenetrable layer of permanent ice. As submersible captains, players must explore the uncharted reaches of the open sea, brimming with distinct harbors, factions, mercenaries and secrets. Salvage treasure and supplies from wherever possible, trade goods and bounties, battle enemy vessels in real-time 3D action and take on gargantuan creatures from the darkest depths of this beautifully realized aquatic realm.

Managing the nine uniquely equipped submarines available is a central challenge of Diluvion’s thoughtful and gripping gameplay. Players can recruit officers of varying skill sets and personalities from ports around the sea to helm the different battle stations of their vessels. Ships can be enhanced with new weapons to change the tide of a firefight, as well as new components to increase their range and survivability. Captains can even build and upgrade their own home bases of operation beneath the ice to house stand-by crew members and subs while increasing their notoriety and wealth.

Diluvion is expected to launch this fall on Windows PC and Mac via Steam. For the latest updates until then, please visit www.diluvion.com, check out the game’s Steam pagehttp://store.steampowered.com/app/446790 and follow Arachnid Games on Facebook and Twitter.

So hey, love undersea trade, piracy, and blasting unspeakable horrors with missiles? Then Diluvion might just be the game for you! So how about you guys? Excited for Diluvion? Also scared of sea monsters? Recognize the picture? Let me know in the comments below!

The post New Diluvion Trailer Has You Fight Giant Undersea Crab Monsters appeared first on Dread Central.

Developed by Creative Assembly

Published by SEGA

Rated T for Teen

Seated at the feet of the icy slopes below my camp, Karl Franz’s army must be feeling confident. Cygors are nothing to scoff at, but the lumbering best artillery are no match for the barrage of Helstorm Rocket Batteries. My Minotaur units are mighty, but surely nothing that a few squads of Greatswords and some Demigryph Knights couldn’t handle. Khazrak One Eye, riding a Razorgor Chariot, shall fall this day to Franz’s Warhammer and mighty Deathclaw. So up the hill they confidently charge, in a bold “ranged first” formation practically begging to be charged. For now, I bide my time, and wait for their artillery to set up and my Cygor to deliver a few solid boulders.

As the rockets start to fly and the distance between their artillery and frontline grows, I charge from the rear with a legion of previously unseen Centigors and Ungor. My Centigors are on them before they can react, cutting down their feeble rocket batteries before they launch their third volley. A few Greatswords and a Reiksguard turn to react, but are soon met by my numerous Ungor. From my position on the hill, I sound the charge into their ranged line, which attempt to retreat behind their Swordsmen and Halberdiers. At this point, it’s too late. My Cygors are free to launch boulder after boulder into their Crossbowmen and Handgunners. Minotaurs toss units aside with ease, cutting through even their toughest units decisively. Though the Greatswords are mighty, the sheer number of my Ungor Herds prove too much. The battle is soon over, a devastating defeat for The Empire of Man.

You know your centaurs are badass when you can’t tell which half is more beastly and jacked.

These moments are what Total War is all about. Turn after turn of building, planning, raiding, and positioning, all for the chance to deliver a crushing blow. On that front, Call of the Beastmen delivers in spades. This is a much more combat focused DLC. Similar to the Warriors of Chaos, The Beastmen are a horde faction, raiding and pillaging in mobile town/army hybrids. The new campaign, “An Eye For An Eye,” is a much more condensed endeavor that has you quickly eliminating various human factions in a climb to the top. It’s pretty fun and serves as a great introduction to the new team. Since you can only play it as The Beastmen, it doesn’t have much staying power past that.

I made the comparison that the Warriors of Chaos were similar to the Huns from Total War: Attila, so that would make The Beastmen the aliens from Independance Day. Chaos at least has The Wastes as a safe haven to regroup and recharge, and the various subjegated Norsca vassals to serve as allies. The Beastman, on the other hand, have no time for any of that “making people your slaves” shit, and prefer to just murder everyone and everything. With no ability to make vassals and massive diplomatic penalties, expect every territory you walk into to be immediately hostile.

But hey, war is a Beastman’s happy place! Chaos had a few ways to generate income outside of raiding, but The Beastmen, must constantly loot and pillage if they want to survive. They can decrease the upkeep cost of their units through upgrading various buildings and researching tech, but you will always be fighting against the forces of attrition for survival. Make war to get money, use that money to get bigger stuff, and repeat until the world is in ashes.

Ah yes, the whole world a flaming smoky mess dotted with corpse piles. Just the way I like it!

It’s not all an uphill battle, as The Beastmen do have a few key factors going for them. First, they grow very quickly, and are able to reach high tier units very early on. Their units are also faster to recruit than those of similar strength, with even their beastly Minotaurs and Cygors only taking two turns. Their movement types are also very powerful, starting with a “beast path” system that’s functionally identical to the Greenskin/Dwarf Underway. Their encamped stance is invisible, allowing them to switch from raiding to regeneration quickly and with little threat of retaliation. Lastly, their default movement style is ambush, allowing you to frequently start with a massive advantage at no movement penalty. Overall, The Beastmen are fast, deadly, and almost impossible to eradicate.

Their technology tree also caters to this faster style of gameplay. The Beastmen research along one of four specialized trees, and each technology requires the same amount of time regardless of tier. If you want to quickly boost your raiding income and replenishment, it can be done within the first 20-30 turns. However, each time you research a technology, it increases the research time of every subsequent tech by 5%. You can only reduce this debuf by researching an ever more expensive tech that will increase your research rate by 20%. If you play it smart you can comfortably get everything, but it does add an extra layer of strategic decision making.

Beastmen armies also have a “Bestial Rage” meter, which functions the same as Greenskin Fightiness. Given enough Bestial Rage and a minimum of 17 units in the army, a Brayherd will be spawned. These act like a Greenskin Waaagh!, attacking your foes for you and inflicting significant damage. They are a bit harder to spawn for The Beastmen, as every time you camp to reinforce you will lose the Bestial Rage you need to spawn a new Brayherd. When you do manage to get one, the damage they do is well worth the cost.

Brayherds come stocked with powerful units like Giants, Cygors, Minotaurs, and Razorgores, so if let loose they will easily make quick work of a good portion of countryside.

I have to mention that this Bestial Rage system is one of the things that people point to when airing out their prime grievance with Call of the Beastmen, which is that it doesn’t add that much. Many of the elements, including a few units of The Beastmen roster, are direct copies from other parts of the game. The Chaos Warhounds and Chaos Spawn are the same you will find on the Warriors of Chaos roster, and aside from that many units like the Centigors only tier up into weapon swapped versions of themselves. And besides, the Greenskins already had Flightiness, so why do we need Bestial Rage?

It’s a rather complicated point, so this next piece of review will be more directed at hardcore fans that probably already have an opinion on this DLC. Even though the Bestial Rage and Fightiness systems function the same, The Beastmen being a horde faction makes it a far more complicated decisions. With Greenskins, there’s really no reason not to let your Waaagh! run wild and raid and pillage to their content. As soon as they wipe out an enemy stronghold, you’re free to move in and colonize it yourself. Sure, you don’t get the experience or raiding income, but it’s a small price to pay for free cities.

For The Beastmen, their sole form of growth and income is combat. If your Brayherd razes a city, it takes a major windfall or resources with it. Brayherds don’t earn you income, nor do they function as a new faction that you can absorb to boost your numbers and resources. If you let them attack a distant city alone, you may find yourself starving for resources when it’s your turn to move into the area. You can always have your Brayherd just follow you around, but since they require constant fighting to stick around, it will likely disband when you camp to recruit and replenish troops. Overall, it means that the Brayherd is a much more temporary buff than the eternally marauding and endless Greenskin Waaagh!

Nothing is sadder than a Malagor sitting alone because your Brayherd kicked so much ass that you now cant pay your upkeep.

Another factor that inexperienced players might overlook is the starting position of The Beastmen. For the first time this game, the Legendary Lord you select will influence where you start. Khazrak starts in the middle of the Bretonnian faction Estalia, while Malagor begins in the Savage Orc territory of the Top Knotz. Not only are these two points on completely different parts of the map, but they are in previously unpressured areas. The Top Knotz is the strongest starting Savage Orc tribe, the only real threat to which is a growing Greenskin army. Even so, they only ever clash with the Greenskins after much of the other Orc lands are already taken, giving them a good deal of time to build up. Bretonnia, on the other hand, was essentially never threatened before. Nestled safely behind a mountain range to the west, the only time they saw combat was from a stray Norsca raiding party or an overly ambitious Empire. Seeing as how these teams are as of yet unplayable, they always amounted to either a late game fly in your ointment or wasted space. Now, they serve as tense early game staging grounds for one of the game’s most savage threats.

If I were judging it on pure quality of content alone, I would be giving this pack of DLC a great score. The Beastmen as a team feel great, bringing a kind of fun and aggressive gameplay that anyone can enjoy and experts will love to master. The new campaign is short, but is a fun addition that showcases the strengths of the new team. Plus, Minotaurs are just plain awesome. Fact.

A typical Minotaur charge, predictably turning everyone and everything into red paste.

Unfortunately, as any cursory overlook of the Steam user reviews will tell you, that’s not the discussion most are having. The real point of contention is the price tag. The Call of the Beastmen DLC costs a whopping $19. That’s almost a third of the asking price of the main game for one team and a mini-campaign. Even as someone who loves this game, I can’t ignore how steep that is. This clearly isn’t an expansion pack like Total War: Attila – Age of Charlemagne, which was only $15. The An Eye For An Eye campaign lacks the legs to really be considered a new alternate game type, and the overlaps in The Beastmen roster are glaring. As a whole package, is it worth it?

It’s very hard to justify the price tag for the content you are given. Ponying up the $19 grants you access to The Beastmen race and the mini-campaign, along with the skirmish lord you unlock for completing it. Without buying it, you can play as them in skirmishes and against them on the Grand Campaign map. They are a part of the game now, whether you purchased the DLC or not. So looking at it that way, no, it’s not worth $19. Perhaps $10 would have been better.

All of this criticism excludes Cygors. Cygors are easily worth $19.

However, I have a very hard time using the fact that there is so much content available without purchase against it. It’s a slap in the face to the effort they put into making so much available at the base $60 asking price. If this were a Call of Duty game, every new skin, map, and mode would be locked behind a paywall. You wouldn’t even be able to see The Beastmen if you didn’t buy the DLC. If you compare all of the content and updates since release including how The Beastmen change the Grand Campaign, it much more accurately represents the $19 asking price.

I’m willing to forgive a lot in service of the larger picture. So far, they have already released a number of balance updates, as well as a new unit for the Vampire Counts and a new school of magic. They have promised more free content, including lords and even races. If you bought the game at launch, then you got the Chaos Warriors Race Pack for free, which sits at a much more reasonable $8. There is so much stuff that falls outside the purview of this narrow review, but is relevant to the larger discussion of value and price gouging.

For a game I have so far put 156 hours into, I look at it more like a subscription cost than an optional content bundle. Every few months, Creative Assembly asks for a donation to fund future content, and I fork it over. It isn’t an opinion I suspect is popular or that many people share, but that’s how I look at it. I realize how costly and time consuming it is to make games, so I don’t super begrudge them for wanting money. That being said, I’m still docking some points for how expensive it is. I just don’t think they are the greedy assholes everyone loves to rant about.

The post Total War: Warhammer – Call of the Beastmen (Video Game DLC) appeared first on Dread Central.

Developed by Indie Guys Who Work Really Slowly

Available on the System That’s Awaiting Greatness

NEVER BEFORE has any single video game experience HAVE WE DONE SO LITTLE IN A GALAXY THAT’S SO BIG! No Man’s Sky has finally arrived, and it is the most BLISTERING WHITE-KNUCKLED RESOURCE MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN!

In it you can EXPLORE 18 QUINTILLION PLANETS WHILE DOING THE SAME SEVERAL THINGS FOR A SEEMINGLY INFINITE AMOUNT OF TIME! This game is nothing short of a WET DREAM FILLED WITH BOMBASTIC BOTANICAL ENDEAVORS THAT WILL HAVE YOUR SYNAPSES FIRING THROUGH YOUR SKULL WITH ALL THE FURY OF AN ERRANT ROBOTIC FIST UNLEASHING AN ORGY OF ELECTROKINETIC ACTIVITY AS IT EXPLODES FROM YOUR CRANIUM! On these planets your eyes will be seared by the sights of ROCKS! THE OCCASIONAL SPACE CRITTER! YELLOW PLANTS! BLUE PLANTS! GREEN PLANTS! ORANGE PLANTS! WHITE PLANTS! RED PLANTS! SILVER PLANTS! PURPLE PLANTS! AND THEY’RE ALL WAITING FOR YOU TO COLLECT RESOURCE DUST OFF OF LIKE A SURGEON TAXED WITH MAKING A PRECISION CIRCUMCISMAL CUT ABOUT THE FORESKIN OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST AS IF HIS VERY SALVATION DEPENDED ON IT!

No Man’s Sky is THE BALLS-OUT ROCK COLLECTING SIMULATION YOU’VE BEEN ON YOUR KNEES BEGGING FOR! Can you survive the BRAIN-TAXING FURY OF NAMING THINGS while making sure you have enough space on your Exo-suit to CARRY BOTH YOUR ZINC AND YOUR HERIDIUM?!?

IN A VAST GALAXY BRIMMING WITH ABOUT 20 UNIQUE PLANET SKINS, it’s up to YOU to WANDER ABOUT AIMLESSLY FOR HOURS ON END, THEREBY CHANNELING THE PATIENCE OF A SOUL-SAVING SHERPA ON A MASSIVE QUEST TO SOLVE THE RIDDLE OF WHY YOU’RE SERVING THE PURPOSES OF DEVELOPERS WHO HAVE ARMED YOU WITH A MINING GUN AS A MEANS TO BECOME THE SINGLE GREATEST INTERGALACTIC MINERAL-HOARDING SLOTHFUL BADASS SPACE VAGABOND POSSIBLE!

If you’re looking for a 100% MIND-NUMBING TEST OF YOUR MENTAL WHEREWITHAL, this is it! No Man’s Sky IS A SLOW-BURN DESCENT INTO THE VERY FABRIC OF COSMIC MONOTONY THAT WILL SNAP YOUR SPINE TO BITS AS A RESULT OF EXCESSIVE SLOUCHING IN YOUR CAPTAIN’S CHAIR!

The post Hyperbolic Review: No Man’s Sky appeared first on Dread Central.

Fresh off its premiere at the 20th annual Fantasia International Film Festival, Steven Shainberg’s adventure thriller Rupture is likely headed our way very soon, and a trio of stills tease the latest work from stars Noomi Rapace and Michael Chiklis. We’ve got them for you today, along with the full plot synopsis!

The film is based on a story by Shainberg and Brian Nelson (Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night, Devil). Nelson wrote the screenplay.

Peter Stormare (Fargo, Clown), Kerry Bishé (Argo, “Sex and the City”), Lesley Manville (Maleficent), and Ari Millen (“Orphan Black”) also star.

Synopsis:
Renee Morgan (Rapace), a single mom who lives with her twelve-year-old son Evan in a quiet suburban home, is terrified of spiders. Unbeknownst to both, their every move is being observed. While running her daily errands her car breaks down and she is violently kidnapped by a group of strangers. About 24 hours later, in an anonymous laboratory, she is tied up and questioned about her medical history, including her great fear of spiders. Soon her captors explain to her that her genetic abnormality can potentially allow her to “Rupture”, revealing her own true alien nature.

The post First Images Show Noomi Rapace and Michael Chiklis Rupture appeared first on Dread Central.