Table of contents for Issue 161 in SciFi Now

AVENGERS: ENDGAME EXTENDED CUT It’s quite ballsy to include a huge spoiler in the promotional material for your film, but Marvel went ahead and did it anyway with this gorgeous poster for the extended cut of Avengers: Endgame. Although we figure almost everyone who would go to see an extended cut would have already seen the original film… Anyway, the point is the poster is pretty enough to get over the fact that the ‘extended cut’ was more or less the same film with just a couple of extras tacked onto it. MULAN This artwork for Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan takes inspiration from the original poster for the animated version. PREACHER SEASON FOUR This new poster represents everything we want from of Preacher Season Four: hellfire and Jesse looking…

The term ‘master of horror’ gets thrown around a lot, but there really are few filmmakers more deserving than the great Sam Raimi. Sure, he may have moved away from the genre, but the man gave us The Evil Dead trilogy after all, and with his Ghost House production company he’s kept us supplied with a steady stream of scary movies since 2004. He’s also had his eye on Aja for some time, as the director explains… “He is a legend for me, period. He is one of the reasons why I’m making this movie,” Aja enthuses. “After High Tension when I moved to the US, we had the choice between making the movie with Wes Craven, The Hills Have Eyes, or making a movie produced by Sam Raimi that…

“IN TORONTO WHERE we premiered, the audience was very engaged and asked so many good questions, but after the Q&A this young girl came up to us. She had just turned 17 and said that this described her generation with the feeling that it’s all over. The generation growing up now, for them climate change is realer in a sense that hope is lost.” We’re talking to Swedish filmmakers Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja about Aniara, their award-winning adaptation of Harry Martinson’s epic 1956 poem inspired by the fears of living through the Cold War. Decades later, the story of Aniara has found new resonance. A luxury spaceship carrying passengers away from the doomed Earth to a new life on Mars suddenly veers irrevocably off course. As the years pass,…

Big 2: The Steroid Years Release 12 August Director David F Sandberg Cast Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Djimon Hounsou Distributor Warner Bros Home Entertainment Certificate 12 Format After an encounter with a wizard, foster kid Billy Batson acquires the ability to transform into a grown adult with powers in DC’s latest adventure. While Shazam! is more family friendly than the likes of Batman V Superman, it still contains genuinely scary scenes and characters. However, those elements just prove that Shazam isn’t messing around. It’s funny and weird, but it’s still very much a super-powered blockbuster. What makes this stand out is that it focuses on kids that fight alongside Billy in adult form, played wonderfully by Zachary Levi. It packs all the right left hooks,…

The super human league Release Out now Directors Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck Cast Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Lashana Lynch, Jude Law Distributor Walt Disney Home Entertainment Certificate 12 Format We join the MCU’s newest hero in 1995 on the planet of Hala, the home of Starforce, the super group that the warrior known as Vers serves. During a rescue mission involving alien shapeshifters known as Skrulls, Vers finds herself in the USA before she is tracked down by a younger, two-eyed version of Nick Fury, and begins to remember key events from her hazy past. Though Captain Marvel’s story is not as dramatic or pivotal as other MCU plots, the film does a good job of setting up the character who could end up becoming the next…

Irritatingly immature Release 19 August Director Neil Marshall Cast David Harbour, Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane, Sasha Lane, Daniel Dae Kim Distributor Lionsgate Certificate 15 Format In the run-up to Hellboy’s release, director Neil Marshall insisted his version would be much scarier and gorier than Guillermo del Toro’s earlier outings Hellboy’s story. Its R-rating solidified such expectations but while the reboot does boast bucket-loads of blood, it’s a lot sillier than initially promised, highlighting how devoid it is of the oddball charm and heart that made the Mexican filmmaker’s adaptations so beloved. David Harbour brings wide-eyed chaotic energy to Hellboy, which is interesting to watch, if not always really welcome. Unlike Doug Jones’ Abe Sapien and Selma Blair’s Liz Sherman though, Sasha Lane’s Alice and Daniel Dae Kim’s Daimio are defined…

Shock and gore Release 26 July Showrunner Eric Kripke Cast Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Elisabeth Shue Distributor Amazon Certificate 18 Format Hughie (Jack Quaid) is devastated when his girlfriend is accidentally killed by a superhero, so when rogue black-ops guy Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) offers him the chance to get revenge on corrupt superhero team The Seven, Hughie finds himself on a path of danger and blood. In the meantime, Starlight (Erin Moriarty) joins The Seven and finds her idealistic dreams of saving people as a superhero are a joke. The Boys takes its name from Butcher’s anti-supes team, who are gradually assembled across the course of the season, but it’s The Seven who steal the show. The messed-up superheroes are led by Antony Starr’s Homelander,…

Gushing about my fantasy hero, Joe Abercrombie. I first heard about Joe Abercrombie when I was 24. His name popped onto my radar in a way that I doubt is unique: I was feverishly scouring the internet for lists of books to read after finishing A Dance With Dragons, because there was a gaping, grimdarkhungry hole in my heart. Abercrombie’s name was on most of these lists, so I gave him a shot, and it changed my life. But before I get into why I enjoyed his writing so much, I should back up a little and give some context. Up until that point, I actually hadn’t read a huge amount of fantasy aside from George RR Martin’s epic. Sure, I’d readLord Of The RingsandThe Hobbit as a kid, but…

Release 6 August Writer Silvia Moreno-Garcia Publisher Quercus Books Price £14.99 Poor Casiopea Tun. Named for a constellation, she’s about as far from the stars as it gets, working as a glorified servant in her grandfather’s house in Mexico in the Twenties. Her better-favoured cousin, Martín, makes her life a complete misery, and while Casiopea dreams of moving to the city or seeing the ocean, her days are spent in drudgery. That is, until she opens the mysterious black box at the end of her grandfather’s bed and accidentally sets free Hun-Kamé, one of the Mayan gods of death. Imprisoned by his twin brother, Hun-Kamé’s out for revenge, and Casiopea gets taken along for the ride. Ultimately, though, both of their fates lie somewhere along the Black Road of Xibalba,…

Release Out now Writer Ted Chiang Publisher Picador Price £16.99 One of the most striking impressions caused by the latest set of stories from the magnificent Ted Chiang is how unusual it is to see such an interest in exploring how humanity will respond to technological advances partnered with such a level of empathy. The characters in the shorts assembled here are, for the most part, people doing their best, muddling through the challenges presented by advancements for which there is not always an obviously “right” solution. In ‘The Lifecycle Of Software Objects’, we begin with a zoologist helping to create a new digital pet and observe how, over the course of many years, the team’s responsibility towards their creations shift as the fad fades. With the technology to support…

Release Out now Writer Amanda Bouchet Publisher Piatkus Price £8.99 Tess Bailey and her crew are on the run with cargo stolen from the villainous Dark Watch, heading for the Rebellion to restock their supplies. However, the cargo turns out to be something more than they expected and when their ship needs serious repairs, they are forced to take refuge while the mysterious Shade Ganavan fixes what he can. But he isn’t who he seems either, and as he and Tess get closer, secrets unfurl and the Dark Watch creep closer… Nightchaser is told mostly from Tess’ perspective, with a few occasional shifts to Shade. Unfortunately, that means that Tess’ crew get considerably less focus and, aside from a few basic histories and snippets of personality, those characters feel rather…

THE CALL OF CTHULHU (1928) It’s not his finest work, but the seeds sown here would define Lovecraft’s legacy. Drawing on influences as diverse as Tennyson’s sonnet ‘The Kraken’ and Maupassant’s foray into the supernatural, ‘The Horla’, this story introduces key elements of the mythos, from the terrifying priest Cthulhu to the fabled Necronomicon. Like that of his protagonist here, Lovecraft’s ‘somewhat extravagant imagination’ bore satisfyingly bitter fruit. AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS (1936) A geologist seeks to prevent other explorers from returning to the Antarctic, having witnessed first-hand the slaughter of which the ancient Elder Things are capable. Fingers crossed that Guillermo del Toro’s long-stalled film version of this unforgettable story eventually wins some backing. We can but dream. THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH (1931) A student…

Blomkamp’s story of aliens invading Johannesburg may be a work of fiction but the political inspiration behind his dazzling debut is deeply rooted in fact. “The preparation for the role was my life experience in South Africa,” reveals Copley, discussing his years living alongside apartheid. “When I was in high school my best friend was a young black guy and I would go into Soweto when technically I wasn’t supposed to be there. I’d be the white guy in the township so I had a lot of personal, emotional experiences around the complexities and humanity and also the tribalism that everybody has on the surface as well. “There are times where you were very proud of the miracle of South Africa and then there were things that you’d see the…

The concept for Gemini Man has been hanging around Hollywood for a while and it’s easy to see why: the world’s greatest hitman being hunted by a cloned version of his younger self is a great idea, but if you can’t sell an audience on the idea that it’s the same person, you don’t have a movie. Ang Lee might seem like a surprising choice to finally bring the dream to fruition but he loves his tech (remember Life Of Pi?) and he can make one hell of an action spectacle. Here’s hoping this is the blockbuster Will Smith needs.…

Dracula is one of those stories that no-one can leave alone. This time Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss will be telling the Count’s story in three feature-length episodes on the BBC. Unlike with their Sherlock adaptation, they’re leaving Dracula in 1897, the year in which Bram Stoker’s book was written, and the Victorian horror will be led by Danish actor ClaesBang (The Girl In The Spider’s Web) as Count Dracula. The first image from the show reveals him splattered in blood, with bloodshot eyes and nails that could use a good manicure. The rest of the cast has been filled in, but no announcements have been made on who will be playing the book’s other iconic characters. The cast currently includes John Heffernan (Collateral); MorfyddClark (PrideAnd Prejudice And Zombies);LujzaRichter (Phantom…

The TV show might be over, but books don’t die that easily. George RR Martin is still working on the remaining books in his A Song Of Ice And Fire series, but The Folio Society are giving fans a chance to enjoy the existing books anew, in beautifully-bound and illustrated editions. The new illustrations, by Jonathan Burton, will give readers the chance to shake off their mental images of the TV show and revisit the books with fresh eyes, and a new introduction by Joe Abercrombie will explore the series’ impact on the fantasy genre. And for those fans of the show who still haven’t got around to reading the source material, it’s the perfect chance to delve into a far richer take on Westeros than the show had room…

THRA The world in which The Dark Crystal is set. THE CRYSTAL The Crystal is the living heart of Thra, but has been turned into a source of power by the Skeksis, granting them eternal life. URSKEKS These creatures were the first to attempt to use the Crystal. In trying to purify themselves, they accidentally split themselves into two beings: Skeksis and Mystics. SKEKSIS Monstrous creatures who rule Thra, drawing their power by corrupting the Crystal. MYSTICS Peaceful creatures who are also known as urRu. They remain connected to their Skeksis other-halves. GELFLING Elf-like creatures, often found living in harmony with nature. PODLINGS Small creatures who are employed as servants in the Skeksis castle. LAND STRIDERS Long-legged creatures that are like horses, but far more terrifying.…

SOURCE CODE (2011) Jake Gyllenhaal, who lobbied for Jones to direct this film on the basis of Moon, plays a soldier who repeatedly awakens in someone else’s body, discovering he’s part of an experimental government program to locate the bomber of a commuter train: a mission that he has only eight minutes to complete. WARCRAFT (2016) Although he wrote the story for Moon, this big budget adaptation of the Blizzard Entertainment videogame series of the same name was Jones’ first ever screenwriting credit, co-written with Charles Leavitt. MUTE (2018) Aneo-noir spiritual sequel to Moon, or at least set in the same universe, Jones’ long-gestating passion project was eventually distributed by Netflix. ROGUE TROOPER (?) Jones is currently attached to direct an adaptation of the beloved 2000 AD comic strip.…

1 THE WITCHER Starring: Henry Cavill, Freya Allan, Anya Chalotra, Jodhi May Creator: Lauren Schmidt Hissrich When : Autumn/Winter 2019 Where: Netflix Genre: Fantasy Given the massive popularity of Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels and the incredible games inspired by them (hands up who contemplated restarting The Witcher III as soon as they saw the word Witcher), it’s surprising it’s taken this long for someone to step up and bring them to the screen. Now that we’re living in a post-Game Of Thrones world, this really should be the show to slake our thirst for violent fantasy filled with political scheming, fragile alliances and big old monsters. We’ve finally got our first look at the leading trio in character and we have to say, they all look the part. Henry Cavill should…

Did you miss her? Release Out now Director Gary Dauberman Cast Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson Distributor Warner Bros Pictures Certificate 15 In The Conjuring, demonic doll Annabelle (whose introduction deftly established Wilson and Farmiga’s Ed and Lorraine Warren as paranormal investigators) is described by the latter as a conduit for evil. And just like that, she was appointed the ghoulish glue that would go on to cameo in – and tenuously connect – six of the seven instalments in this ever-expanding franchise. Annabelle Comes Home doubles down on her being a puppet master for sinister entities as it sees Ed and Lorraine leave their daughter Judy (Grace) in the care of babysitter Mary Ellen (Iseman) while they go out of town for a case.…

Ariel would never Release Out now Director Svyatoslav Podgaevskiy Cast Viktoriya Agalakova, Efim Petrunin, Sofia Shidlovskaya, Nikita Elenev Distributor 4Digital Media Certificate 15 Format If you go down to the water today, you’re going to get a mermaid asking if you love her and probably murdering you. This Russian horror movie comes from director Svyatoslav Podgaevskiy (Queen Of Spades: The Dark Rite, The Bride) and is a surprisingly po-faced bit of schlock. Roma (Efim Petrunin) deeply loves his fiancée Marina (Viktoriya Agalakova), but when he heads down to the lake, he bumps into a lovelorn aquatic creature who puts him under her spell. Now, Roma is seeing this monster everywhere he turns. Can Marina find out the truth behind monster and put a stop to it before she loses her…

Ouija! Cults! Snowmobiles? Release Out now Director Christopher Webster Cast Dawn Laurrie, Aaron Kjenaas, Connie Snyder, David Fields Distributor Arrow Video Certificate 15 Format Hot on the heels of Arrow Video’s Trapped Alive comes the next chapter of the Wisconsinspolitation saga: The Chill Factor. A group of buds head out to a remote lake to race their snowmobiles, but when one of them is badly injured they are forced to take refuge in a derelict summer camp. When they find a Ouija board, they quickly realise that whatever happened there was not good, and that they’re not all who they used to be… While the dialogue is verging on Roomesque as the characters verbalise every single thing, spend an unusual amount of time snowmobiling and reminding the audience who’s related…

Deny everything Release 29 July Showrunner David O’Leary Cast Aidan Gillen, Michael Malarkey, Laura Mennell, Ksenia Solo, Neal McDonough Distributor Lionsgate Home Entertainment Certificate 15 Format We’re constantly looking for a show to fill the void left by The X-Files: two partners travelling across the country investigating the paranormal and shady government forces covering up the truth. While Project Blue Book doesn’t hit the highs of anX-successor likeFringe, it has the allure of being ‘based on real events’. The show is drawn from the case files of Dr J Allen Hynek (Aidan Gillen), a college professor who was recruited by the US Air Force to investigate the sudden rash of ‘paranormal’ events in the Fifties. He’s partnered with amiably surly former pilot Captain Michael Quinn (Michael Malarkey), who takes his…

Release Out now Writer VV James Publisher Gollancz Price £14.99 Everyone knows that a murder in a small town only means one thing: uncontrollable escalating chaos. Old friendships will fall apart, gossip will spread like wildfire, and frankly the body count can’t stop at just one. These things have a habit of escalating, and the fact that VV James takes increasingly unhinged grieving parents, shocking buried secrets and a media frenzy and stirs in the fact that the prime suspect is the daughter of a well-loved witch… well, it’s ludicrously entertaining. James follows her superb Dark Gifts trilogy with this blend of Big Little Lies-esque murder mystery and supernatural thriller. It all starts when beloved high school football star Dan Whitman is killed at a party, but when a video…

Release Out now Writer Heather Kassner Publisher Titan Books Price £7.99 It’s always a real pleasure to witness an author in absolute control of the fantasy world they have created, especially when it comes to a story so tightly woven as this. Heather Kassner’s debut novel is a short but very sweet tale that is set almost entirely over the course of just a single night in a graveyard and it is a beautifully woven gothic treat. Irréelle has spent her short life being told that she isn’t real. The only one who can actually see her is her creator, the horribly cruel Miss Vesper, who brought her to life using bone dust and magic. Irréelle lives in servitude and the hope of one day being made a real girl.…

Release 13 August Writer Rob Hart Publisher Bantam Press Price £12.99 In the future, no-one shops on the high street. Instead, they use Cloud. It’s cheaper, and with their fleet of drones, it’s easier, too. Cloud’s the biggest employer in the world, and it’s always hiring. But something sinister is going on beyond Cloud, and it’s down to corporate spy Zinnia and former CEO (before Cloud put his company out of business) Paxton to figure out what that is. You’ve likely already worked out who the targets of The Warehouse’s angry satire are. With its huge warehouses staffed by exhausted workers and its insistence on its staff living on site, wearing GPS trackers, and acting like one happy family, Rob Hart’s fictional corporation is a scathing parody of the likes…

“STORIES ARE SOME OF THE MOST POWERFUL AGENTS OF CHANGE”EVAN WINTER The Rage Of Dragons is an action-packed epic fantasy set in a world in which the Omehi people have been locked in an unwinnable war for 200 years… but maybe we’ll let author Evan Winter describe it: “It’s set in a war-torn nation collapsing in on itself,” he explains. “It’s the story of one man, in the middle of that chaos, who has everything taken from him but his life, and he twists that life into something unrecognizable, something monstrous, so that he may have his revenge.” You’ve talked about the importance of finding yourself in a story, was this always a driving factor in coming up with this book? It was. I believe stories are some of the…

What is your process in adapting a story of this kind as a graphic novel? I treat the adaptation as a work in its own right, adhering to two rules: stay true to the spirit of the story and stay true to the medium to which the story is being adapted. I read through the book with a highlighter, then break the structure apart and put it back together again, considering everything in terms of the second rule – staying true to the medium – while retaining only that which adheres to the first rule: the spirit of the story. In lots of ways, I end up with another draft of the story, told with the benefit of hindsight. What are the challenges of adapting Lovecraft’s work? One of the…

Ever since we left alien Wikus in the Johannesburg slums at the end of District 9 audiences have been wondering whether we’ll one day see a continuation and conclusion to his story. According to Copley we might be in luck, because a sequel is definitely on the cards – just as soon as everyone’s schedules free up a bit. “I do think it’s likely,” he tells us. “It’s something that myself and Neill have discussed on and off over the years and it seems to get closer and closer before something comes up and throws it out,” he laughs, “but I’m very confident that it will happen at some point.” As for whether Copley, now a major Hollywood star, is ready to return to the trash landfills of the townships?…

AFTER A FALSE start almost a decade ago, Disney got cracking on a live-action remake of its 1998 animated film Mulan in 2015 and we finally got a first glimpse of the product of its efforts when the studio posted the film’s trailer. It logged more than 175 million views in its first 24 hours, including 52 million from China alone. But we’re not surprised though, it’s pretty heroic. THE TRAILER The first trailer for the film was everything we could have asked for: it included all the best scenes from the animated film, from the tea ceremony with the Matchmaker and the army training montage, to the deadly mountain pass avalanche and Mulan running across the rooftops of the royal palace in her bid to save China. The remake…

When it comes to filming with puppets, and especially with puppets of different scales, the sets need to be flexible. Each set needs to have lower rostrums, or platforms, built into them at different heights in order to allow the puppeteers to be able to operate while hidden in a trench. “The Skeksis, who are five foot, need a two-foot rostrum, because of the way [the puppeteers] stand inside [the puppets],” explains Gavin Boquet, the production designer. “But the Gelfling need a four-foot rostrum.” So each set is built four foot off the ground as standard, with sections and levels of the set then being removable via a system of “squashed hexagons on wheels, which meant Louis [Leterrier] could quickly move them apart.” The top level of the set –…

AMITY, LONG ISLAND WHEN: 4 July 1975 WHAT: Great white shark REPORTING OFFICER: Chief Brody INCIDENT SUMMARY: Despite my multiple attempts to warn Mayor Vaughn about the danger of opening the beach, there were indeed multiple attacks on visiting bathers by what our expert, Hooper, assures me was a Great White. There were multiple fatalities, and frankly the fact that it fell to me, Hooper and Quint (now deceased) to take a boat out and blow the damn thing up ourselves is an absolute disgrace. This is a categorical failure of local government. AQUATICA, PACIFIC OCEAN WHEN: 26 July 1999 WHAT: Three genetically enhanced mako sharks REPORTING WITNESS: Shark wrangler Carter Blake INCIDENT SUMMARY: Well, what more can I say? That Dr Susan McAlester broke the Harvard compact and has…

There’s a great moment in the novel NOS4A2 in which we get a glimpse at Charlie Manx’s roadmap. Titled ‘Map To The United Instates Of America’, it’s the infernal monster’s guide to the hidden highways and shorter ways including, of course, directions to Christmasland. What makes it exciting is the fact that the map contains directions to the Lovecraft Keyhole, the location of Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s glorious comic Locke And Key, the Treehouse Of The Mind, from Hill’s novel Horns, and the Pennywise Circus in Derry, Maine. Hill and Stephen King have a history of dropping Easter Eggs and references to each other’s work and it’s delightful to see that preserved in the show. And while we shouldn’t expect to see IT’s dancing clown drop in to menace Vic…

All three volumes of Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark drew from folklore and urban legends and wove them into an anthology series that is guaranteed to give even the pluckiest of children nightmares. Here are some of the best… THE BABYSITTER A young woman receives a phone call while babysitting one night. “Check the children,” says a voice. She shakes off the call and watches TV instead. The phone rings several more times, each time with the same message, and each time the babysitter hangs up. Annoyed, she finally informs the police, who decide to trace the next call. After the stranger phones again, the police tell the babysitter to leave the house immediately and arrive on the scene. The calls were coming from inside the…

ALIEN (1979) Aside from being one of the greatest horror films ever made, Alien is one of the definitive portrayals of blue collar workers in a sci-fi setting. OUTLAND (1981) Sean Connery plays a federal marshal who is stationed at a mining colony on a Jupiter moon and finds himself marked for murder after discovering a conspiracy. SILENT RUNNING (1972) Bruce Dern’s astronaut finds himself alone in a spacecraft with only robots for company. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) The reveal that the soft-spoken robot GERTY in Moon is genuinely benevolent seems like a deliberate subversion of 2001’s HAL 9000.…

SKILLS: CAN’T MISS WHEN HE SHOOTS, SUPERHUMANL Y STRONG DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: HAT, LONG COAT, GRIM COUNTENANCE ALLIES: EUGENE ROOT (UNWILLING ALLY), JESSE CUSTER (RELUCTANT ALLY) IT SAYS SOMETHING WHEN A SHOW FEATURES SATAN AS A CHARACTER, and he’s not the biggest bad-ass on it. Preacher is stuffed full of bad-asses, and the Saint Of Killers established his claim to being the baddest of them all in the Season Three finale, when he killed Satan. But Graham McTavish, who plays the Saint, wasn’t concerned about how the show would manage to top killing Satan – after all, he’s read the comics on which Preacher is based. “We don’t disappoint on that front,” he promises his fellow comic book fans. The Season Three finale left Preacher poised and ready for a barnstorming…

Sibling rivalry Release Out now Director Mamoru Hosoda Cast Moka Kamishiraishi, Haru Kuroiki, Kumiko Aso, Gen Hoshino Distributor Anime Ltd Certificate PG Format Writer-director Mamoru Hosoda (Wolf Children, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) delivers another treat with Mirai, a sweet-hearted, imaginative and deeply moving family drama seen through the eyes of a four-year-old boy. Kun is used to getting all his parents’ attention but when his mother comes home with a new baby girl, he can’t stand it. After one massive tantrum he starts to receive visits from impossible new friends, including the teenage version of his baby sister, and learns that growing up is not something to be afraid of. While Hosoda has made films for all age groups, it is, at times, a little hard to see…

In a girls’ boarding school? With my reputation? Release Out now Director Jimmy Sangster Cast Yutte Stensgaard, Michael Johnson, Suzanna Leigh, Ralph Bates Distributor Studiocanal Certificate 18 Format Enjoying its first Blu-ray release, Hammer’s follow-up to The Vampire Lovers is a blend of boobs-n-blood box-ticking and interesting mythology and is, as the experts say in the disc’s doc, indicative of an awkward transitional period for the studio. Michael Johnson stars as an author who stumbles across a girls’ finishing school, where he sets about blagging a job as a teacher and falling for Mircilla (Yutte Stensgaard). However, the townspeople are right to fear the Karnstein curse as it turns out his paramour is not as innocent as she seems… The film is surprisingly less interested in exploiting the sexuality of…

Stranger still Release Out now Showrunners The Duffer Brothers Cast Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Millie Bobbie Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp Distributor Netflix Certificate 15 Format Things get even more difficult for Hawkins, Indiana, in the third season of Eighties-inspired sci-fi mystery series Stranger Things. Will Byers may be back from both the Upside-Down and the clutches of the Mind Flayer, but there’s something even more sinister lurking in the shadows of the once-sleepy town. Everything is bright, shiny and covered in sweat as the show enters the summer of 1985 and Hawkins gets a brand-new mall; the new hot spot for teens all over town. Those teens include the ST gang, the former bike-riding kids we know and love, and with the shift in age comes an entertaining shift…

HEX “HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt is a modern masterpiece. #BookClub” @bloodyflicks The Wee Free Men “...or any of Pratchett’s Witch books. They’re funny, intelligent, well crafted and full of heart. Miss him lots. #BookClub” @TomWookiee The Witch Saga “The Witch Saga by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. I probably love it because of nostalgia. Haven’t read it since I was a kid. #BookClub” @TK06h45m089173J Which Witch? “I read a book called Which Witch? when I was a teen, can’t remember the author, but I read that book many many times! #BookClub” @TheJediMum Wyrd Sisters “Wyrd Sisters - my first encounter with Nanny Ogg and friends. #BookClub” @andyangel44…

“Just started Christopher Golden’s Ararat, heard good things. #BookClub” @bloodyflicks “Halfway through @StephenKing’s The Outsider. It’s his best novel for years. #BookClub” @NakMac “Listening Godzilla: King Of The Monsters audio book. Lot more detail and explains more than the film did. Narration is excellent. #BookClub” @safcinexile “Been reading Moon, by James Herbert. A grim tale full of haunting visions and grotesque murders. Herbert ramps the suspense up to the max with this book, it’s a real page turner. #BookClub” @paul_bowler “Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and @neilhimself - first time reading and loving the banter from Aziraphale and Crowley, and full of darkly comic and witty writing #BookClub” @Kev_h80 “I’ve picked up The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross. First novel in The Laundry Files series and am loving it #BookClub”…

Release 8 August Writer DK Fields Publisher Head Of Zeus Price £18.99 ‘There’s power in stories and this is a story of power.’ Stories are how the Union Of Realms functions as a society in the novel. We are not quite at Star Trek’s Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra levels, but we’re close. Everyone has their very own story that they are living through, which means that when it comes to elections, it is the best story that gets the most votes from the population’s representatives, known as The Audience. Detective Cora Gorderheim has a pretty serious problem in her story in the form of a corpse. When a Wayward man is found dead with his mouth sewn shut ahead of an election in which he was to play a…

“It was kind of miraculous that I ended up being in the film at all,” chuckles Sharlto Copley, thinking back to the creation of 2009’s scrappy, surprise sci-fi hit District 9. Whenever talk turns to how director Neill Blomkamp brought this politically charged tale of alien and human strife in Johannesburg to life – and how Copley found himself as its unlikely star – it’s hard for him to hide a sense of utter disbelief that the whole thing actually happened. In retrospect, we can hardly blame him. An unknown actor headlining a ground-breaking new movie packed with high-end visual effects, with mega-director Peter Jackson producing? It’s far from an easy sell. “I have a whole different sense of how crazy it was,” he says in retrospect. “The way the…

KITCHEN MURDER This unsettling scene sees Nola’s mother (Nuala Fitzgerald) unwisely wander off to the kitchen. After surveying the mess made by the brood, her eyes catch a glimpse of the hideous tormentor. What ensues is the stuff of Hitchcock-induced nightmare. KINDERGARTEN CALAMITY In a scene perhaps even more unsettling than the kitchen attack, a couple of the brood casually enter Candice’s kindergarten room and abduct the poor girl. Their attention then turns to her teacher, (Susan Hogan) as they pick up some wooden mallets and pound the woman to death in front of the other kids. IT’S UNDER THE BED! In a state of drink-fuelled depression following the murder of his ex-wife, Barton Kelly (Henry Beckman) decides to stay in the house of his former love. Things take a…