Agate RPG is the company that publishes Shadows of Esteren, a tabletop medieval horror RPG (among other platforms) that blends elements of “Game of Thrones” with H.P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulhu. While the project lives mainly on gamer’s tables, the world that has been created has allowed the project to extend into other mediums, such as in comics, a video game, and music.

Today, we’ve got an exclusive look at the upcoming 16-page graphic novel Yldiane, which shows the titular character entering a ghost town that is inhabited solely by a talking dog. Yldiane is the sister of Adeliane, who herself is the subject of a new album/tour that is currently on Kickstarter. The album is composed by François Rousselot and features the voice of Clarisse May as Adeliane.

The album will also undergo a tour with confirmed dates being June 3rd at the UK Games Expo as well as at Essen Spiel on October 27th. French and US dates are in the works for 2017/18.

From the official press release:
Imagined and designed by Studio Agate from Paris, France, Shadows of Esteren features a medieval world with horrific and gothic overtones in a dark, low fantasy setting. Drawing inspiration from Celtic myths, this universe has a subtle fantastic side hidden under a bleak, realistic surface. As a role-playing game, Shadows of Esteren has received more than a dozen awards for its art, production value and cartography, earned a silver ENnie Award for Product of the Year and has thousands of devoted players worldwide.

The post Exclusive: Venture Into the World of Yldiane in This Graphic Novel Excerpt appeared first on Dread Central.

A trailer for EuroObscura’s Landing Lake has arrivedm and I can’t tell you what in the Sam Hell is going on! However, I saw some incredibly strange body horror as well as got the feeling that this film is a nightmare come to life, so there is that.

Written and directed by Cesare P. Libardi di K., Landing Lake stars Victoire Vecchierini, Emma Bown, Lee Ravitz, and Franck Assi.

Synopsis:
When a technical team is sent to repair a communication station, they quickly realize that something may be coming from the nearby lake that is affecting their minds. As they lose their inhibitions, their most primal desires take hold. It seems that only one of the team is permitted to bond with the unseen entity and so be reborn in a new body. A terrifying game of strategy ensures not to survive, but rather to die with the promise of life anew.

The post Landing Lake Trailer Is a Surreal, Twisted Phantasmagoria appeared first on Dread Central.

A trailer for Gravitas Ventures’ Awaken the Shadowman has been released, and it explains… something? Honestly, it’s not the best cut trailer as it feels very jumpy and scattered. That being said, the titular creature looks rather nice.

Personally, I’ll wait for a better trailer or for good word-of-mouth before I check this one out.

Directed by J.S. Wilson and written by Skyler Caleb and Woodrow Wilson Hancock III, Awaken the Shadowman stars James Zimbardi, Skyler Caleb, and Jean Smart.

Synopsis:
After the mysterious disappearance of their mother, estranged brothers reunite and discover an unknown supernatural force.

The post Awaken the Shadowman Trailer Has a Thing Against Babies appeared first on Dread Central.

We’ve still got a long way to go until Sony’s Venom movie hits screens on October 5, 2018, but thanks to a beautiful new piece of fan art from the Twitter account BossLogic, we now have some idea of how Tom Hardy might look as the human host for the Klyntar Symbiote.

Thanks in no small part to the success of Fox’s Deadpool, Venom will carry an R rating.

If you’re wondering how Sony came to be in possession of the Venom character despite Marvel being owned by Disney, it’s because Sony purchased the film rights to Spider-Man and related characters in 1999, before Disney purchased Marvel in 2009. Under the current agreement between the two studios, Sony will be allowed to set their Spider-Man movies within the Marvel Cinematic Universe on the condition that they also allow Disney to use the Web-Slinger as a supporting character in their own films. From what we’ve come to understand so far, the Venom movie will be the first installment in a new shared universe featuring Marvel characters already owned by Sony and will not be connected to the MCU. The recently announced Silver Sable and Black Cat film will form part of this new series.

On a more sour note, it’s possible that Sony’s plans for their own Marvel universe could be met with pushback from Disney. As you are probably already aware, Disney are none too pleased that the film rights to the X-Men and the Fantastic Four are both owned by 20th Century Fox. So much so that the House of Mouse has actively been trying to damage the reputation of both superteams. There are too many examples for me to list here, but a few include editing X-Men and Fantastic Four characters out of posters and T-shirts featuring famous Marvel covers (see examples here and here), cancelling the long running Fantastic Four comic series shortly after Fox announced that they were making a new Fantastic Four movie, and minimizing X-Men and Fantastic Four merchandise and not featuring the characters in recent cartoon series and games. It’s also pretty clear that the X-Men vs. Avengers comic was clearly intended to make the mutant superteam seem weak and insignificant compared to the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. If you want to learn more, you can read some decent articles on the subject here, here, and here.

I could be speculating, but I’m gonna assume that Disney won’t use similar tactics against characters from the Venom movie in fear of upsetting their Spider-Man deal with Sony. In any case, Venom will be directed by Ruben Fleischer.

The post Tom Hardy Transforms into Venom in Awesome Fan Art appeared first on Dread Central.

Attention Boston readers! Or anyone in the Boston area! Or anyone willing to make the trip, I suppose… ANYWAYS! We’re teaming up with Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures to give away 50 pairs of tickets to an early screening of 47 Meters Down and all you have to do snag your pair is click RIGHT HERE. The screening is being held Monday, June 12th at the AMC Loews Boston Common at 7pm.

Directed by Johannes Roberts (The Other Side of the Door), the underwater thriller stars Mandy Moore (“This Is Us,” A Walk to Remember), Claire Holt (“The Vampire Diaries,” “The Originals”), Yani Gellman (“Pretty Little Liars,” “The Young and The Restless”), and Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket, The Dark Knight Rises).

47 Meters Down comes out June 16th.

Synopsis:
On the rebound after a devastating break-up, Lisa (Mandy Moore) is ready for adventure while on vacation in Mexico. Even still, she needs a little extra persuasion when her daring sister Kate (Claire Holt) suggests they go shark diving with some locals. Once underwater in a protective cage, Lisa and Kate catch a once in a lifetime, face-to-face look at majestic Great Whites. But when their worst fears are realized and the cage breaks away from their boat, they find themselves plummeting to the bottom of the seabed, too deep to radio for help without making themselves vulnerable to the savage sharks, their oxygen supplies rapidly dwindling.

The post Attention Boston: Go See 47 Meters Down For Free! appeared first on Dread Central.

Developed by Arkane Studios

Published by Bethesda Softworks

Available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One

Rated M for Mature

You know, I think somewhere out there in the annals of the GameStop preorder listings, I still have $5 on “Prey 2.” The ill-fated bounty hunter space simulator would never see the light of day, falling into development hell when the IP was transferred from 3D Realms to Bethesda Softworks. I was at the Bethesda conference where the newly revived Prey was first announced, and in all honesty the reaction in the room was equal parts excitement, shock, and confusion. The original was a stellar throwback to the 80’s, with a spirit walking Native American protagonist blasting aliens with bombastic weapons and a creative take on the laws of space and gravity. The 2017 Prey looked… really serious. The trailer was all about strange shifting goo monsters and needles in the eye. Gosh, it’s almost like they took the name alone and none of the concepts from the original.

By Arkane’s own admission, that’s actually what happened with Prey. Aside from the name, the only commonality is that you play as an ethnic minority (Asian this time) and that there are in fact aliens attempting to prey on you. But I guess calling it Prey is less messy than what they really want to call it, System Shock 3. Although I hesitate to even call it that. System Shock 2 was a wonderfully diverse and inventive game, worthy of the decades of homages that have followed. While Prey follows the theme of diverse objectives, creative problem solving, and nonlinear exploration, it possesses a unique feel and flow to combat that makes it in a category all its own.

I guess they also have the gravity bending thing in common, but this time it’s actual space navigation instead of just wacky warp pads.

This is going to be a spoiler review starting now, as it’s just too hard to get into the meat of the game without revealing major plot points. You play as Morgan Yu, one of the top scientists and heads of the TranStar corporation aboard the Talos 1 space station. You quickly find out that you are dual researcher and guinea pig, stuck in a repeated loop of memory loss. As you’re completing another one of your daily cycles, a containment breach of deadly aliens known as the Typhon forces you out of your cozy little loop and into a fight for survival. From there, you are a Gordon Freeman style blank slate silent badass, shotgunning and wrenching your way through alien hordes in an attempt to save mankind.

Like any good scientist, I can fix this alien infestation with industrial equipment.

Now it all sounds kind of basic, but what makes Prey is the characters that steer the morality straight into a deep and dark grey area. There are no real “good” or “bad” guys, no clear answer as to what is right and wrong. The various characters all have compelling reasons why they think they are right, further complicated by the previous “you” weighing in at various stages of his memory loss. You soon meet January, a mechanical Operator programmed by you for the sole purpose of instructing you to destroy the whole space station. This will kill you and every person aboard, all in service of saving Earth from a Typhon infection. This is your starting point.

It’s a bold and dark way to launch a grand journey. Generally, you’ll start a game with a more hopeful objective like, “defeat the dragon lord and become the goodly king Fantasystan.” Only after you discover the Dark Acolytes or something do you get the, “just kill everyone and start over” quest. But in Prey, you start with that as the end goal. From there, you learn things that will make you question the nature of that mission. Are there people worth saving? More than that, is this station worth saving? And what about the threat to the rest of the world?

Except for this guy. Definitely not worth saving.

It’s a great way to tell a story, and I appreciate the narrative creativity of how it presents the questions. Unfortunately, it at times boils down to the same kind of “right” and “wrong” dichotomy that we come to expect from games. Helping people is good, turning them into biomatter to upgrade your psychic powers is bad. I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m not in favor of turning people into goo to make my brain lasers just that much more powerful under normal circumstances. But if my plan is to just nuke the station to save the world, isn’t it actually right to give myself that extra edge over the chittering alien hordes? I’m not advocating using babies as munitions. But if it’s me, a dozen babies, and the Lord of Death on a rocket hurtling towards earth, you better bet that I’m loading up my toddler cannon with a full clip.

I was also surprised that a few of Prey’s moral questions didn’t make more of an impact. One of the cooler ones came from the Typhon Neuromods. Now let me take a step back and explain the Neuromods. Rather than gain experience, you advance Morgan’s capabilities by installing Neuromods. For simplicity’s sake, these are skill points that you collect instead of leveling up for. The basic forms of these increase your health, weapon skills, armor, and other “human” stuff. A few hours in, you’ll unlock what amounts to the “magic” trees. These skills range from transforming into objects to lighting things on fire with your mind. These psychic powers are incredibly powerful, and augment your arsenal in devastating ways.

Can… can I just level up instead please?

Now obviously, blowing things up with psychic powers is hella cool. You’re warned however when you first discover them that these alien mods are dangerous. Not only will the system’s defenses recognize you as a threat and attack, but you run the risk of losing your humanity. So I went through the whole game without installing any of them, expecting some massive alteration to the ending. Aside from a single line praising me for my restraint, my abstinence didn’t do jack shit. Now I’m not one of those assholes expecting every minor decision to massively alter my ending, but come on. You give me a big warning that putting the alien shit in my brain has major consequences, but in the end it all ends the same anyways?

Now I wouldn’t be so salty if the game wasn’t severely lacking without the psychic powers. I was able to beat Prey without any of the cool mind explosions, but the combat leaves much to be desired. There are only 7 weapons in Prey (not counting four different kinds of grenades), only four of which deal damage. You have your wrench, a pistol, a shotgun, and a green laser that makes enemies explode when exposed long enough. You then also have an immobilizing goo gun that also creates platforms, a charging stun gun, and a toy crossbow that you use to push buttons from a distance. So ignoring the nerf gun, you really only have six weapons. Now the shotgun gets the job done, but I got really tired of using it. There’s a lot of staples missing, like some kind of assault rifle, rocket launcher, or sniper rifle. I’m not saying that every game has to follow a set arsenal, and I actually appreciate that Prey did things differently. While I applaud the uniqueness, it didn’t make up for how constrained my combat options felt.

Maybe I’m expecting too much from life, but I can only electro-zap into shotgun decapitate an alien so many times before I get bored.

I’ve heard some people complain that Prey doesn’t feel really “scary” because of the bright color palate, but that’s dumb. I’m glad for once to have a horror game that I can actually see what’s going on. The basic mimics are pretty weak, but the constant threat that any cup or chair might try to shove tentacles up your nose keeps things tense. Enemies also deal a significant amount of damage, with even the basic dudes taking you down in just a couple psychic blasts. You can get beefy enough through Neuromods to even the odds, but given my love for all things completion I invested much of my early game points into all the various “unlocking” skills. So for about 70% of the game, every encounter was a mad dash to dish out as much damage as I could before the alien electroballs turned me into a lump of squirming flesh. It’s tense, and the constantly constrained inventory and scarce ammo does ramps the engagements up to a constantly pitched fight for survival.

“Not scary”

Still, the combat limitations and general weirdness of it might turn most gamers off. I’m not about to be so insipid as to suggest that most gamers would prefer space CoD, but even I felt the hurt. It’s interesting to have to swap between a stun gun, distraction grenade, and good ol’ shotgun to take down an enemy, but when that’s every fight it gets tedious. I would have liked more variety in enemies, as even the hardest ones can be dispatched quickly when you learn their weaknesses.

If you’re a fan of open games with a hefty amount of exploration and side content, then Prey is a genuinely unique experience that should not be missed. It’s far from perfect, and for most people I’d recommend Arkane’s other game Dishonored 2 over it. But there’s something charming about Prey that will set it in my heart in a category all its own. To put it in an example, there was a point where I was supposed to fight through a bunch of enemies to get to a console and turn on some elevators in a shuttle bay. I had about a 3000 rounds for my goo gun at this point, and decided to just make my own platforms up instead of turning on the elevator. Turns out, this was a totally viable option. This is the kind of lateral thinking that Prey not only anticipates, but rewards. So if you just want to shoot aliens in space, Prey is too obtuse to deliver. If you like turning into a cup so that you can roll through a vent for a secret pathway, then welcome to Talos 1, Morgan.

The post Prey (2017 Video Game) appeared first on Dread Central.

“Preacher” is about to hit the road for Season 2, which should make fans of the comic a bit happier than they were during Season 1 since we’re now getting to the meat of the story.  To make sure you’re keeping the show’s June 25th return date in mind, AMC has released another batch of stills, which you can check out right here.

The below images are from both Episode 2.01, “On the Road,” and Episode 2.02 (TBA).

About “Preacher” Season 2:
The critically-acclaimed, supernatural series “Preacher” returns with a two-night event, beginning with the Season 2 premiere on Sunday, June 25th, at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT, followed by the second episode on Monday, June 26th, at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT, in the series’ regular time slot.

“Preacher” Season 2 stars Dominic Cooper, Ruth Negga, Joseph Gilgun, Ian Coletti, Graham McTavish, and new additions Noah Taylor (“Peaky Blinders,” “Game of Thrones”), Pip Torrens (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, My Week with Marilyn), Julie Ann Emery (“Better Call Saul,” “Fargo”), Malcolm Barrett (Dear White People), Justin Prentice (“13 Reasons Why,” “Awkward”), and Ronald Guttman (“Mozart in the Jungle,” “Mad Men”).

Based on the popular cult comic book franchise of the same name, “Preacher” is an absurdly twisted and action-packed thrill ride. When Jesse Custer (Cooper), a small-town preacher with a criminal past, realizes God is absent from Heaven, Jesse sets out to find Him. Along for the ride are Tulip (Negga), Jesse’s volatile true love, and Cassidy (Gilgun), a 119-year-old Irish vampire and Jesse’s best mate. The gang ends up in New Orleans, where they must dodge local gangsters, dangerous secret agents in white suits, and the Saint of Killers, an unstoppable killer cowboy from Hell.

The Sony Pictures Television and AMC Studios co-production was developed for television by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (Sausage Party, Neighbors 2, Superbad) and showrunner Sam Catlin (“Breaking Bad”). The series is executive produced by Catlin as well as Rogen, Goldberg, and James Weaver for Point Grey Pictures; Neal H. Moritz and Ori Marmur for Original Film; and Vivian Cannon, Jason Netter, Ken F. Levin, Michael Slovis, and the author of the Preacher graphic novel, Garth Ennis.

Preacher Episode 2.02

The post More Preacher Season 2 Images Tease the Mayhem to Come appeared first on Dread Central.

The Walking Dead: A New Frontier has finally come full circle, with the season finale launching on May 30th. Have you been keeping up with the game? If so, read on for the details and official trailer.

Synopsis:
When family is all you have left… how far will you go to protect it?

After society was ripped apart by undead hands, pockets of civilization emerged from the chaos. But at what cost? Can the living be trusted on this new frontier? Telltale’s latest episodic adventure in the world of The Walking Dead is now available on all your favorite devices.

Buy the game: https://telltale.com/store/the-walking-dead-a-new-frontier/
Learn more: https://telltale.com/series/the-walking-dead-a-new-frontier/

The post The Walking Dead: A New Frontier Comes Full Circle When Episode 4 Launches on May 30 appeared first on Dread Central.

“Fear the Walking Dead” Season 3 kicks off a week from tomorrow so AMC is pulling out all the stops to make sure you tune in. On tap today are several new photos that give us a good idea of the troubles our survivors are about to face and also acquaint us with some of the new cast members.

“Fear” is kicking off on Sunday, June 4th, at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT with two back-to-back episodes. The first half of the season will consist of eight episodes airing over six weeks. In addition to the two-episode season premiere, the mid-season finale will also consist of a double-dose of episodes on Sunday, July 9.

The series is executive produced by showrunner Dave Erickson, Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, Greg Nicotero, and David Alpert and stars Kim Dickens as Madison, Cliff Curtis as Travis, Frank Dillane as Nick, Alycia Debnam-Carey as Alicia, Mercedes Mason as Ofelia, Colman Domingo as Strand, and Danay Garcia as Luciana.

Joining the cast as series regulars for Season 3 are Dayton Callie (“Sons of Anarchy,” “Deadwood”), Daniel Sharman (“The Originals,” “Teen Wolf”), and Sam Underwood (“The Following”), who will play the Otto family, founders of a survivalist organization who prepared for the fall of democracy but didn’t anticipate the rise of the dead, as well as Lisandra Tena (“Chicago P.D.”) as Lola Guerrero.

“Fear the Walking Dead” Season 3 Synopsis:
As “Fear the Walking Dead” returns for Season 3, our families will be brought together in the vibrant and violent ecotone of the U.S.-Mexico Border. International lines done away with following the world’s end, our characters must attempt to rebuild not only society, but family as well.

Madison (Kim Dickens) has reconnected with Travis (Cliff Curtis), her apocalyptic partner, but Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) has been fractured by her murder of Andres. Madison’s son mere miles from his mother, Nick’s (Frank Dillane) first action as a leader saw Luciana (Danay Garcia) ambushed by an American militia group — the couple escaped death, but Nick no longer feels immortal. Recovering both emotionally and physically, Strand (Colman Domingo) has his sights set on harnessing the new world’s currency, and Ofelia’s (Mercedes Mason) captivity will test her ability to survive and see if she can muster the savagery of her father.

The post New Fear the Walking Dead Photos Show Our Survivors in Peril appeared first on Dread Central.

Yesterday the long anticipated Friday the 13th: The Game launched on consoles, and don’t you know Jason’s first victim was the game’s servers. They were… quite literally… bombarded, nuked, and kaput.

I, like many of you, spent quite a while hitting “Quick Play” over and over again to no avail… but then… a solution became apparent.

While I don’t know what the case is for PS4, I can tell you that on Xbox One all you have to do to get a game is go to the Friday the 13th game hub, tab over to “Looking for Groups,” and BAM! There’s over 100 sessions just waiting for you to join!

Even easier? Just become a member of the “Dread Central Horror Community” on Xbox One under Groups for folks looking for a match ASAP! See you online!

Believe me… once in, the game is NOTHING SHORT OF AWESOME, and this temporary work-around until the servers are all patched up and ready to go really works!

The post Friday the 13th: The Game – How to Easily Find a Match on Xbox One appeared first on Dread Central.

It’s still hard to believe that I get to write these posts. After 25 years, David Lynch and Mark Frost’s “Twin Peaks” is back for an 18-episode revival on Showtime and I’ve now seen four episodes. Say whatever you want but this really does feel like some strange, surreal dream come true. Here is the chance to address all the questions that went unanswered at the end of the second season, to return to that charming yet eerie Pacific northwest town that enchanted so very many of us.

After last week’s two-episode premiere, we return once again into this strange story, although now things are a bit more linear, a bit easier to follow. Let’s dive into what happened but, as always, be warned for there will be spoilers ahead.

To put them in the simplest way possible, these two episodes follow Dale Cooper after he leaves the Black Lodge, where is a changed man, almost unrecognizable when thinking of the character that we all know and love. He is in shock and has reverted to an almost infantile state, seemingly unable to form his own sentences and able only to repeat back simple phrases he hears from others. But in order to understand how Cooper got out of the Black Lodge, let’s go back a little bit.

The episode opens with Cooper falling through the cosmos, so fast that the light from stars illuminate him briefly before he enters into the darkness of space again. He then falls into a strange place, one that makes no physical sense. He at one point looks over a vast ocean and covered by a purple sky only to later climb atop that “world” to find that it’s all fits into a metal box that is barely as tall as Cooper.

So how does Cooper escape? We see how he does it but we’re never given the exact reasoning for why he’s able to do it after 25 years. To boil it down, Cooper leaves by being sucked through an electrical outlet. While I wish I could explain how he’s able to do so, it’s not all that clear. We must remember that the only way Cooper should be able to leave is if his doppelgänger returns to the Black Lodge. However, Evil Cooper does not return, although not for lack of the Black Lodge trying. Evil Cooper, who was driving at the time when Dale was getting sucked through the outlet, crashes his car and begins seeing the red curtains of the Black Lodge billowing in front of him. Desperate to avoid going in, he covers his mouth before vomiting some sort of strange black, yellow, and red substance, a “liquid” (there are a lot of curds in there) that is apparently noxious to all who come close to it.

Here’s where things get really interesting: we are then introduced to a THIRD Kyle MacLachlan character, a man by the name of Dougie Jones, who we meet in Las Vegas after he’s had sex with a prostitute by the name of Jade. While she’s showering, Dougie vomits the same as Evil Cooper and is then sucked into the Black Lodge with a resounding bang. In there, he collapses in on himself, bursting into black smoke, after being told by the one-armed man that he was manufactured for a purpose, a purpose which has been fulfilled. From what we can assume, he was a decoy, a way for Evil Cooper and Dale Cooper to live in the real world simultaneously.

As mentioned before, Cooper is in a state of shock. He can barely walk, he doesn’t seem to understand anything that’s going on around him, and he only repeats back phrases he hears, shortening them to a couple of words. He is, for all intents and purposes, born again. He has been out of our world for 25 years and we cannot expect him to simply be normal. As much as I wish to see Special Agent Dale Cooper in his full charm and confidence, I will have to wait as the Cooper we have learns how to be himself again.

Jade takes Cooper to a casino where he promptly begins winning one slot machine jackpot after another, all guided by a mysterious Black Lodge vision floating above any machine that will win with one coin. He wins so many that the casino becomes suspicious, although they can’t do anything. They simply give him his winnings, albeit with reluctance, and order him a limo to take him home where we meet Dougie’s wife, who is played by Naomi Watts.

Meanwhile, back in the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Station, Hawk, Andy, and Lucy are trying to figure out what the Log Lady was talking about when she said that something was missing from the Laura Palmer case files. Later, Sheriff Truman arrives and we are told that it’s Harry’s brother who is now wearing the star. We are reunited with Bobby Briggs, who is now a police officer for Twin Peaks. We also meet Andy and Lucy’s son, Wally “Brando” Brennan, who looks like he has taken that middle name a bit too seriously and is dressed like Marlon’s character “Johnny” from The Wild One. It’s a scene that is hilarious and perfect for the series.

While all of this is going on, we also see Albert Rosenfield and Gordon Cole, who are told that Cooper has returned and can be found in South Dakota. After getting the okay from Federal Bureau of Investigation Chief of Staff Denise (David Duchovny), they travel there only to meet with the Evil Cooper, who speaks strangely but with information that he almost certainly should not know. Both Albert and Gordon don’t realize that this is the doppelgänger but they sense that something is very off. Gordon evens admits that he has no idea what is going on.

Back in Vegas, Cooper wakes up in Dougie’s house where he has to go through what, for many people, is a normal ritual. However, he still requires much help and is always looking around at others for guidance. A hilarious scene comes when Cooper has to pee followed by getting dressed for breakfast where he gets his first cup of hot coffee. No surprise, it’s very hot and he ends up spitting most of it out.

Before Cooper goes down, however, there is a scene where he looks in the corner of Dougie’s bedroom and sees the Black Lodge faintly over the decor. He sees the one-armed man, who tells him that he was tricked and that one of the Coopers out in the world must die.

Perhaps the greatest moment in these two episodes comes when Bobby walks into the conference room to meet with Andy, Lucy, Sheriff Truman, and Hawk and he sees a picture of Laura Palmer on the table. In true “Twin Peaks” fashion, he gets extremely emotional and begins crying while Angelo Badalamenti’s “Laura’s Theme” begins playing. I would be lying if I told you that I myself didn’t become emotional. Without realizing it, my hand grabbed my chest as my heart ached and tears filled my eyes. It was a moment both pure and magical, one that proved the lasting power of the original series as well as showed the importance of this revival for all of us who have waited for so many years.

It’s still so strange to me that so much of the story takes place outside of the titular town. However, it’s not an unpleasant feeling. Rather, it’s exciting and exhilarating. Whereas the mysteries of “Twin Peaks” felt confined in the first two seasons to that town and the surrounding areas, we are now experiencing strange wonders in many areas and locations. While the sun may be shining in many scenes, it will never take away the unrelenting feeling of surreal oddness at play.

Yes, the first two episodes were a phantasmagoria of “Twin Peaks” visuals and information that seemingly made no sense but the third and fourth episodes are easy enough to follow along with as they progress in a more normal structure. That being said, there are still a great many mysteries at play here and nothing concrete has been given. Lynch and Frost are taking their sweet time building quirky storylines while never letting go of the main thread. It might be a while before we see Dale Cooper enter the town of Twin Peaks but that’s okay. For now, I’m more than happy to follow his journey while he becomes the agent he once was.

Let’s just hope he gets to enjoy that next cup of coffee without it burning his mouth!

The post My Thoughts on Showtime’s Twin Peaks Episodes 3 and 4 appeared first on Dread Central.

No, that wasn’t a typo in the title of this article. Nintendo may have abandoned all first-party support for the Wii U, but other publishers may still release games on the system if they so choose. Which is why THQ Nordic have decided to bring the original Darksiders to the Wii U, marking its first appearance on a Nintendo system. Best of all, the Wii U version is the enhanced Warmastered Edition which was also released on PS4 and Xbox One, and featured improved visuals, rendering and textures form the original PS3 and Xbox 360 release.

The Wii U version of Darksiders Warmastered Edition is priced at $19.99, and can be purchased as both a digital download from the Nintendo eShop or as a physical edition from Amazon. If you purchase it from the eShop before July 31, you can also buy the Wii U version of Darksiders II for 75% off.

Synopsis:
Deceived by the forces of evil into prematurely bringing about the end of the world, War – the first Horseman of the Apocalypse – stands accused of breaking the sacred law by inciting a war between Heaven and Hell. In the slaughter that ensued, the demonic forces defeated the heavenly hosts and laid claim to the Earth.

Brought before the sacred Charred Council, War is indicted for his crimes and stripped of his powers. Dishonored and facing his own death, War is given the opportunity to return to Earth to search for the truth and punish those responsible.

Hunted by a vengeful group of Angels, War must take on the forces of Hell, forge uneasy alliances with the very demons he hunts, and journey across the ravaged remains of the Earth on his quest for vengeance and vindication.

The post Original Darksiders Rides Onto Wii U appeared first on Dread Central.

The upcoming sci-fi/thriller Prisoner X is almost upon us, which is why we’re excited to bring you a chance to win a DVD copy of the flick.  It will be coming home on June 6th.

To enter for your chance to win, just send an email to contests@dreadcentral.com including your FULL NAME AND MAILING ADDRESS along with “Prisoner X” in your subject line. We’ll take care of the rest.

This contest will end at 12:01 AM PT on June 6, 2017. Note: By entering this contest, you are consenting to allow Dread Central and its subsidiaries use of your email address.

Directed by Gaurav Seth, who wrote the film with Robert Reed, Prisoner X stars Michelle Nolden, Romano Orzari, Damon Runyan, and Julian Richings.

Synopsis:
As the world rages in war and civil strife, CIA agent Carmen Reese arrives at a secret underground prison to interrogate a captured terrorist with links to recent attacks on American soil. But the prisoner is more than he appears – he has arrived from the future with ninety-eight other time travelers who are still at large and wreaking havoc across the globe. Now it’s a race against the clock as Carmen and the prisoner engage in a battle of wills to see whose version of the future will triumph.

BUY IT NOW!

The post Win a Copy of Prisoner X on DVD appeared first on Dread Central.

Last night was the end of the 2017 edition of the 70th Cannes Film Festival. It’s a festival that we covered extensively, especially when it came to acquisitions. A load of horror news occurred, so I highly recommend clicking on that link to see what you may have missed out on.

The big news from Cannes is that they revealed the list of winners in their various categories, including the coveted Palme d’Or, which went to Ruben Östlund’s The Square. For horror fans, the exciting announcement came in the form of Sofia Coppola winning Best Director for The Beguiled, the upcoming period thriller which sees Colin Farrell take refuge in a Southern Girls’ boarding school, even though he is an enemy soldier. Additionally, The Beguiled star Nicole Kidman took home the 70th Anniversary Award.

The Beguiled stars Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning, Oona Laurence, Angourie Rice, Emma Howard, and Addison Riecke. Coppola based her script on the novel by Thomas Cullinan and the screenplay by Albert Maltz and Grimes Grice for the original film from 1971.

Synopsis:
The story unfolds during the Civil War at a Southern girls’ boarding school. Its sheltered young women take in an injured enemy soldier. As they provide refuge and tend to his wounds, the house is taken over with sexual tension and dangerous rivalries, and taboos are broken in an unexpected turn of events.

The post Sofia Coppola Wins Best Director For The Beguiled at Cannes appeared first on Dread Central.

43% of alien encounters in the United States describe the now familiar Gray alien species, which makes the upcoming film Gray Matter even creepier.

From the Press Release:
Since the 1940’s alien beings known as “GRAYS” have been sighted around the globe with the thought that they visit our planet to study our species and civilization before they eventually invade…but what if we’re wrong? What if they are only here to protect us? After a meteorite crashes to earth awakening the extraterrestrial creature within, a young woman is abducted by an alien “GRAY” to aide in hunting down and destroying the creature before it can reach a second meteorite that fell to earth decades earlier unleashing its deadly infestation of earth.

Cast: Alys Crocker, Tara Elizabeth, Michael G. Wilmot, Jay Dub, Shawn Swain, Lucas Hazen

Directed by: Greg A. Sager

Connect with Gray Matter Online:
Visit Gray Matter: Gray Matter on our WEBSITE: http://www.graymatterthemovie.com

Like Gray Matter: Gray Matter on FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/matchbox.pictures.3

Follow Gray Matter: Gray Matter on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/matchboxpicture

Follow Gray Matter: Gray Matter on INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/matchboxpictures/

#GrayMatter

http://www.graymatterthemovie.com

The post Familiar Aliens Sighted in Gray Matter Trailer appeared first on Dread Central.

If you’ve seen Alien: Covenant, then you know what kind of incredibly detailed worldbuilding went into the making of the film. If you’d like to learn more about the environments, creatures, and technology that feature in Ridley Scott’s return to the universe he created, then you’ll want to pick up a copy of The Art and Making of Alien: Covenant by Simon Ward, which is available now from Titan Books.

Don’t have the cash right now to purchase the book? Don’t worry… we’ve got you covered! Titan has provided us with three copies of The Art and Making of Alien: Covenant to give away.

To enter for your chance to win, just send an email to contests@dreadcentral.com including your FULL NAME AND MAILING ADDRESS along with “The Art and Making of Alien: Covenant” in your subject line. We’ll take care of the rest.

This contest will end at 12:01 AM PT on June 5, 2017. Note: By entering this contest, you are consenting to allow Dread Central and its subsidiaries use of your email address.

Synopsis:
The Art and Making of Alien: Covenant reveals how the visual style of the film evolved, with breathtaking concept art accompanied by insight and interviews with key cast and crew.

This official companion book explores all the major environments, creatures, and technology that feature in this exciting new movie. It explores the intricate technology of the eponymous colony ship and its auxiliary vehicles, designs of the crew’s uniforms and weaponry, artwork of key locations, and breathtaking alien art imagery in amazing detail.

Packed with fascinating sketches, blueprints, diagrams, full-color artwork, final film frames, and behind-the-scenes shots from the set, The Art and Making of Alien: Covenant is the ultimate literary companion to this highly anticipated movie event.

The post Win a Copy of The Art and Making of Alien: Covenant from Titan Books appeared first on Dread Central.

The days are getting longer, the temperature is rising, and there’s a skip in my step whenever I go outside. Yup, it’s about to be summer! For those of you who aren’t exactly thrilled about the impending hot months, we’ve got something that we think will put a smile on your face!

We’ve teamed up with Italian synthwave badass Confrontational to bring you his awesome cover of Sabrina’s “Boys (Summertime Love)”, which features Swedish artist/musician Tobias Bernstrup on vocals. The track will be a free download on the darkwave compilation Sparkles in the Dark Vol. IV, which comes out today!

Confrontational tells Dread Central:

Growing up in Italy around the 80’s, two very Italian things got especially hardwired in my brain: giallo slashers and the italo-disco sound. It was in the air, by all means unavoidable.The Sabrina Salerno smash hit Boys was receiving heavy rotation in the summer of 1987 on every local radio. The power of that starting funk riff has stayed with me throughout the decades in an almost subliminal way, as much as that catchy synth line and chorus. Sabrina appeared on Lamberto Bava’s Delirium that same year – and it was actually the first slasher movie I can remember seeing, ever. That track and movie somehow merged seamlessly in my imagination – I was transfixed at 5 years old!

Throughout the sessions for A Dance of Shadows in 2015 I would daydream about crafting a remix for Sabrina that I could infuse with a giallo vibe – bringing those same “fun & sun” lyrics to a whole different setting. During those same days I also came across Tobias Bernstrup’s Killing Spree from 2005 (probably the first retrowave album ever?), and I was mesmerized – it’s a hugely influential work for me. So both Sabrina and Tobias informed part of the writing process, and that’s how the song Flat/Line was born… yet all the while, the remix idea persisted.

Fast forward to 2017: I am beyond honored that Tobias Bernstrup is now slated to feature on a brand new song on the upcoming, third CONFRONTATIONAL album. As I pitched the project I also wanted to try and pursue that old idea, so I went ahead and sent him my rework of the Sabrina classic. His response was enthusiastic and wildly inspirational, and the final result is quite simply the hardest hitting track I’ve ever produced so far. A love letter to the sounds and visions that shaped my upbringing, punctuated by the chilling signature Bernstrup vocals intertwined with my own. I can’t thank Tobias enough for making this dream come true!

I’m also very grateful to Maurizio Rizzo at Dark Italia for the incredible patience and support, and of course Pol at Branca Studio for once again creating the perfect visuals to accompany this new chase into the darkness. Start the summer right, play this loud and pass it around – we’ll be seeing you on the dance floor…

Check out the track below, keep an eye on Dark Italia’s Bandcamp for the new compilation, and enjoy!

Confrontational online:
Official Website
Facebook
Instagram
Bandcamp

Tobias Bernstrup online:
Official Website
Instagram
Soundcloud
Facebook

The post Exclusive: Get Your Italo-Giallo Funk On With Confrontational’s Boys Cover Featuring Tobias Bernstrup appeared first on Dread Central.

Filmmakers Jovanka Vuckovic, Annie Clark, Roxanne Benjamin and Karyn Kusama present four horrific tales of terror in XX – one of the few horror anthologies focusing on female filmmakers and characters.

Vuckovic’s first short film “The Captured Bird” (winner of four Best Short Film Awards) was executive produced by Guillermo del Toro and was an official selection at over 50 festivals around the globe. Her XX entry is called “The Box” and it’s based on a Stoker Award-winning short story by Jack Ketchum. We caught up with her to ask a few questions about “The Box” as well as how XX fits into the pantheon of horror anthologies.

Dread Central: “The Box” had sort of a “Twilight Zone” feel to it… with a lot of gore! Was having that sort of feel to it something you intended or did it happen organically? Also, what sort of mandates did you have to make it female-centric?

Jovanka Vuckovic: I thought of it as a “Twilight Zone” story and I even toyed with shooting it in black and white at one point because I was so inspired, but then I thought that would be wearing my influences too much. Also, because it is in an anthology, we wanted it to be very serious, and so I thought making it black and white would take away from it. Jack Ketchum’s story, I don’t know if you’ve read it, but basically the only thing I changed was the gender of the protagonist. I changed it from the father, who was incapable of making a meaningful connection with his family, to the mother, and when he wrote his story in the early Nineties, it was a different time then. Now there’s more women going to work and more stay-at-home dads, so it made sense to me.

Todd [Brown] and I had three rules when we created XX, and it was that it had to be written by a woman, directed by a woman, and had to star a woman in a lead role. So I was, ‘Yeah, okay, so I have to make the lead character a woman,’ and then when I did that, all these new story possibilities emerged. Although the sentiment is the same as Jack Ketchum’s story, it becomes more about ambivalent motherhood and all of the supposed negative feelings around motherhood that we don’t talk about much: resentment, the drudgery of daily routine.

There was a woman in my personal life basically who told me that she married the guy that she was supposed to marry, that everyone thought she should marry, then she had a kid with him, then she had another one because society was telling her that one kid was going to be lonely and she had to have another one, and so on. She did all these things and then once she got to forty she realized she really didn’t like any of them. That really stayed with me. She did all the things she thought she was supposed to – and women tend to fall into that trap more than men – the trap that doing everything everyone, like your family, society, suggests you should do at this point in your life. We see it when women hit thirty; everyone starts asking them, ‘Why haven’t you had kids yet?’ People don’t ask men that shit, so that stuff is a lot more interesting to me than telling another story about a father who works too much and can’t connect with his family. Then I added in the cannibal scene, so that scene where they’re eating Mom on the table there is something I added in because the story is so specific about the food and the dinners and the eating. They were carving the mother like she was a turkey.

DC: What I really liked was your color palette – muted, but with pops of red… like the box itself. And there’s a lot of attention to detail in general.

JV: Yeah, I’m glad that you noticed that. It’s so subtle people don’t often point out the production design and the color palette and stuff that I chose because it’s so muted. I worked with Ian Anderson before and I made another short film with him [“The Guest”] and I’d given him this look book I created… he made that short film look exactly like the book. So when we were shooting “The Box,” I gave him another look book and I said, ‘This is what I want it to look like.’ For the subway scene, I wanted everyone to be dressed in gray, dark colors that were sort of drab, so that the box pops in that scene. And the house, all the dinner scenes and everything, I wanted the food to really stand out; I wanted it to look like food porn so I hired a food stylist to make the food look amazing.

Well, it devolved from healthy to crap over the course of the film, but I wanted everything else to be very neat and tidy, sort of de-saturated and for Susan’s clothing to be perfect, always very perfect because she plays the role of the mother who’s actually just trying to keep up appearances and failing, failing at motherhood. I had a very distinct look book and I had some images from the movie The Master, which I used as a reference, that I gave to my DP. I chose very particular shots. I wanted it to be very constraining, so everything is either on tripod or locked off or a slow-moving dolly. I didn’t want movement; I wanted it to be very controlled. I was always boxing Susan in, I’d box her in a window or a doorway, I’d try and box her in as much as possible to sort of give the idea that Susan is very confined.

DC: Female directors and filmmakers seem “trendy” right now… I’m seeing more inclusion in recent years… but do you think it’s going to help turn the tide, or is it just the flavor of the week?

JV: We created XX in direct response to lack of opportunities for women directors, so there’s a problem, a systemic problem, not just in horror. It’s the film business. Just seven percent of all working directors, according the DGA’s diversity report, are women; and that is a major problem. It’s not because women are not interested in film; in fact, more than fifty percent of all film school graduates are women. I was just reading Ted Koch’s memoir on filmmaking, and he brought up these numbers as well and how abysmal it is for women directors. There’s a lot of reasons why this problem exists, and the DGA knows it exists. They want to have more diversity and they want people to hire more women, but they can’t force the studios and networks to hire women. The only thing that’s going to change it is if women start hiring other women, and XX was something functional that we could do to address this problem. Some of it has to do with sexism… actually, I think a lot of has to do with sexism because the former president of the DGA said that basically the reason that people aren’t hiring women is because a lot of people don’t want to take orders from women. So it’s a real serious problem.

The ACLU last year launched an investigation into the hiring practices in Hollywood, but despite all this noise that we’re making, and some progress like you pointed out, some more women directors making horror films, we’ve actually taken a backslide. The numbers went from eight percent to seven percent from last year to this year. Yeah, it’s a real problem and we have to just keep going. Women have to help each other, we have to hire each other in order to make a dent in this seven percent problem. When I shot “The Box” I crewed up with as many women as I could. I had, like, eighty percent women on the crew. That’s how we can make things better. So with my feature that I’m soft-prepping right now, it’s a sci-fi/action movie with kids, I’m trying to hire as many women as I can. Not just in key roles like heads of departments, but right down to the core of the crew – so that’s what I’m doing to sort of encourage progress. The fact is that women directors don’t get the same projects as men; they generally get much smaller budgets because there’s a belief that we’re not capable [of handling] these huge tentpole movies. This is one reason why I urge everyone, whether you like superhero movies or not, go see Wonder Woman because we need to be able to say, ‘Women can do this!’ For instance, Get Out is the proof now, [so] we can finally say to financiers and producers that it’s not true that horror movies with a black lead won’t sell. It’s not true. Also, Hidden Figures is an example of a movie about three black women isn’t going to sell, that’s no longer true. So go and buy a fucking ticket for Wonder Woman when it comes out!

Synopsis:
XX is a female-driven horror anthology with each director given full creative license to tell any story they choose revolving around a female protagonist. While the directors have been given free creative rein within budget and time constraints, all of the segments themselves involve the horror genre.

The post XX – Jovanka Vuckovic Exclusive Interview appeared first on Dread Central.

Written and drawn by Robert Geronimo

Lettered by Thomas Maurer

Fantasy horror is a genre that’s been left by the wayside in recent days.  As we rocket into the future aboard a flaming wagon filled with shit, people seem to be spending more time in fictional worlds closer to our reality and timeline.

Robert Geronimo’s new comic, Kingdom Of Blood, plants itself firmly in that subgenre with a tale of goat warriors, silent warrior priestesses, cursed kingdoms, and lots and lots of blood.

I’ll try to break down a synopsis, but it won’t be easy.  There’s a human kingdom, Voragoth, and through just a whole bunch of bad decisions and evil shenanigans, they’ve become besieged by the Saytrians, a race of goat men who seek to not just overthrow Voragoth, but attain an ancient relic of evil that will make their General unstoppable.  Between them and their goal stand only the Sisters of Silence, three holy priestesses with horrible power, and a little creature named Meek.

To say that’s the short version is an understatement.  That’s really the primary problem with Kingdom of Blood.  The first big chunk of the book is crammed full of enough high-speed exposition and lore that it reminds me of the infamous MST3K episode Cave Dwellers where the riff is, “This is the part of the film we like to call, She Had To Ask!”  There’s just a LOT to ingest in a hurry.  Curses and gods and priests and monsters and royalty and wars and really hard to pronounce words and stuff.  There’s so much of it that the back of the book contains a lengthy “Lore” section that gives more detail on everything.

Frankly, the book would be better served to skip a lot of the lore and leave it in that back section, moving to the story at hand a bit faster.  We don’t need quite all that info shoved at us in the beginning to get us on our way with the Saytrians and the Sisters.

That being said, it’s not bad, at all.  It’s actually quite good.  It reminds me quite a bit of the world of Diablo, the famous videogame series that’s really the most famous fantasy horror series in modern media.  Yes, it’s all swords and sorcery, but it’s also hell, demons, and just rivers of grue.  The same can be said for Kingdom of Blood.  It’d shock me if the Saytrians aren’t inspired by the goatmen of Diablo.

Most importantly, once the quest is off to its bloody start, the book maintains its pace and keeps the blood flowing. The Sisters make Skyrim‘s fus-roh-dah seem like a yodel, dragons are turned inside out, everything seems to have way too many teeth, and guts are everywhere.  Geronimo’s black and white art style would fit well in Heavy Metal magazine, and that’s another influence I detect.  Kingdom of Blood would fare well as an entry in a new Heavy Metal movie, in fact.  Just ad loc-nar and stir.

If you’re okay with your horror going medieval, Kingdom of Horror is a fun ride.  It’s a bit of a weighty pill to swallow with all the lore, but once you get past that you’re in for some blood-soaked monochromatic fun.

The post Kingdom of Blood (Comic) appeared first on Dread Central.

Happy Memorial Day, y’all! If you’re not out celebrating by going to the swimming pool or enjoying a BBQ, maybe we can interest you in a clip from the vampire drama/horror film Aaron’s Blood? Head on down to check out this clip!

Aaron’s Blood, the third feature from Arizona-based Pasidg Productions, is written and directed by Tommy Stovall and was produced by Marc Sterling. James Martinez (“Low Winter Sun,” “Breaking Bad”), Michael Chieffo (Argo), and Trevor Sterling Stovall star.

Gravitas Ventures has given the vampire drama thriller Aaron’s Blood official release dates, including a limited theatrical date of June 2nd. The film will then arrive on Blu-ray, DVD, and OnDemand on June 6th. The physical releases will include, “Introduction To; Making Of; Behind the Scenes; and Deleted Scenes.”

Aaron’s Blood can be pre-ordered via iTunes.

Synopsis:
Aaron copes with his new life as a single father and the distant relationship he shares with his only child Tate. A timid hemophiliac, Tate is roughed up at school by the chief bully causing a massive nosebleed that lands him in the hospital fighting for his life. He makes a miraculous recovery after a necessary blood transfusion, but Aaron begins to notice progressively strange behaviors in his son. Faced with the grim possibility that his son could be becoming a vampire, Aaron enlists the help of a local vampire hunter and embarks on a frantic search to find the source of the infection to stop the transformation before it’s too late.

The post Exclusive: Aaron’s Blood Clip Goes Right For the Throat appeared first on Dread Central.