Horror, Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Spec-Fic Friday, June 17th

Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Stephen King's "It" with a New Edition

I loved Devil's Advocate ("Vanity! My favorite sin"). And no matter what anyone else says, I like Keanu Reeves (he has a ponderous, contemplative air about him that doesn't come across as broody; I like it).
Top Ten Horror Films with Big-Name Casts

30 Things You Might Not Know About "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

First Two Official Photos from "The Walking Dead" Season Two

And on a related note (game news),
New concept art released for The Walking Dead, main character revealed

First Stills, Art and Trailer for 'George A. Romero Presents Deadtime Stories Volume 1'

Noah Wyle leads survivors, battles aliens in new TNT sci-fi drama “Falling Skies”

Have a good weekend!

The Walking Dead AND Stephen King? Squee!

While nothing is ever definite in Hollywood, it looks like a Cloverfield sequel might still be a possibility.
Cloverfield sequel? Someday
(and in the article sequence, the January post on Cloverfield news says, "it may never happen." You just gotta love the movie biz)!

Stephen King rumored to be
writing an episode of AMC's The Walking Dead
(doing a Snoopy happy dance)

I am a big fan of Alice, but the last movie left me disappointed. And now I'm confused: didn't Jill die already? (not that it matters in the world of the Umbrella Corp; death is only a minor inconvenience)
Resident Evil 5

Next installment of The Dark Tower and a time travel book
Stephen King's next two books

Another remake (of a remake, no less):
Cat People

Old news, but interesting:
10 Best Sci-Fi Shows Cancelled After One Season
I was nuts about Alien Nation. I loved those sour-milk swigging immigrants.
And to that list, I add two more shows that shouldn't have been cancelled:
Automan (I ♥ Cursor!)
Tremors: The Series (I ♥ Burt Gummer!)

Trailers, Disgusting furniture, & Horror Film Boot Camp

Two New HBO Trailers: Game of Thrones

Dark Souls Extended Trailer

And it looks like I found that last piece for decorating my writing room. ;)
Chair with Guts

Casting news:
Underworld: New Dawn

Stephen King News

And more Prometheus news

Last but not least, Tim Sullivan shares what he
Learned at Horror Film Boot Camp

Not crap, could be crap, admitted crap, and hopefully not crap!

Looking for a free read? Check out SF Signal's Free Fiction:
SF Signal: Free Fiction for 3/5/11

Think you know Zombies?
Zombie Movies Ultimate Fan Quiz

Deja Vu:
Blade Runner Prequels and Sequels on the way

He gets bonus points for admitting it. Let's hope the next one is better.
Michael Bay admits Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen 'was crap.'

Squee! Another show that I can't wait to see. I haven't been this excited about a series since Tremors was a series on SciFi!
Terra Nova

Zombie Children's Books & Gothgirl Ponies

Zombie book for children coming in May:
That's Not Your Mommy Anymore


Did Olivia Wilde leave House to play Lara Croft?


More The Walking Dead news (can we ever get enough?):
The Walking Dead Game


Aw. I don't know if they'll find another little girl who hits that perfect blend of cute & spooky like the first Carol Anne.
MGM Back on Track With Poltergeist and Robocop Reboots


This one's not exactly news, but its too cute to not include:
Gothgirl Ponies


And last but not least, SF Signal has started a new community for sci-fi, fantasy, & horror lovers. Go sign up! "Come and play with us, Danny!"
SF Signal Community

Zombie News Shambling Your Way Today

Even though I didn't win the stagger-on role, I still love AMC's The Walking Dead. Their loss . . . I would have made a great shambling predator. ;)

Some The Walking Dead news:

Gale Anne Hurd Talks ‘Walking Dead’ Season 2

The Walking Dead Toys Come Shambling Our Way

 

Official Blog of AMC's The Walking Dead

 

And for more news on all things zombie (movies, comics, tv, etc.), check out

The Zombie Survival Crew Daily

 

 

Duke Nukem Forever, baby!

The best . . .news . . . EVER: Duke Nukem is back! Duke Nukem was one of the first computer games I ever played, and it remains my favorite. Hail to the King, baby!

Blastr: We've waited 13 Years . . .

EpicBattleAxe.com

And the official site:
Duke Nukem Forever

I might just buy it. <grin> Okay, I'll definitely buy it. And then this blog and everything else will go dark while I dive into a Duke Nukem playing marathon.

The Holy Grail of Pitches & a Buffet of Free Reads

I don't know if this really counts as news or not, but it's so awesome that I have to include it somewhere. This isn't just important to sci-fi fans & Trekkies, but also to writers and screenwriters: Gene Roddenberry's original pitch for the Star Trek series!

Blastr article: Found! Gene Roddenberry's original 1964 pitch for Star Trek!

The full pitch document (pdf)


Craving brains? Here are new releases in zombie fiction:

Fangoria: new zombie books


Last but not least, the latest in free spec-fic:

SF Signal: Free Fiction

It's All About the Zombies

Today's news: AMC's The Walking Dead

Even if it turns out to be not true, it's a great rumor. Love pondering the possibilities (a drunken, philandering zombie? Thanks to his role on Two and a Half Men, he's already got the stagger down).
Charlie Sheen Going Undead for The Walking Dead

If it works for Alice, why not Rick?
Walking Dead Videogame?

More rumors (keeping my fingers crossed on; love to see it back sooner).
AMC's The Walking Dead to Return in July

Last but not least, a
Q&A with Andrew Rothenberg (Jim)

All aliens, please proceed to level one . . .

And bite these movie-makers on the butt.

All news related to the upcoming Alien prequel has to be taken with a grain of salt, because every time news breaks, the folks associated with the movie are quick to come out and refute it. So you can't believe everything you hear. But here's the latest news, true or not . . . and like it or not.

Will Charlize Theron Kick Butt in Ridley Scott's Prequel?

I hope not. Don't get me wrong, I like Charlize Theron. I just can't see her in the gritty, hard-as-nails world of Alien.

And then of course, there's the news that it's not really going to be a prequel after all, but a mostly-new movie:

Ridley Scott's 'Alien' Prequel Morphs into Prometheus

Ridley Scott Using Alien DNA for Prometheus Science Fiction Movie

I am NOT happy. I was really hoping to see the prequel and learn more about the big space jockey from the first movie. I thought I might get to learn more about the xenomorphs and where they came from. I thought I was going to be getting another chapter of my beloved Alien series. Now I don't know what I'm going to get. I don't want unique, large, and provocative; I want to see more Xenomorphs dripping acid blood and poking at people w/ their second set of teeth. I want more face-huggers jumping out of dark corners and wrapping their segmented tails around throats.

Why, oh why, can't we just have that? Why must we have "epic?" Every movie doesn't have to be Avatar, thank you very much.

Ok. Rant over. Maybe I'll get lucky and someone will come out and brand this latest news as mere rumor (fingers crossed).

Best Spec-Fic Reads of 2010

As if my "to be read" list isn't long enough! Grab a blanket and some hot cocoa (or a hot toddie), and curl up with these books on a long, cold winter night.

The 15 Best Speculative Fiction Books of 2010

Top 10 Fantasy Books of 2010

Amazon.com's Best Books of 2010: Science Fiction and Fantasy

SFGates's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2010

2011 Remakes, Prequels, and Sequels, Oh my!

Here's a Blastr poll: Which 2011 sci-fi movie are you looking forward to most?
http://blastr.com/2010/12/poll-which-2011-sci-fi-mo.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

I'm not a big fan of "superhero" movies or cartoons, so that takes several of the movies off my list right off the bat.

But I'm looking forward to:

Battle Los Angeles;
Pirates of the Caribbean (sequel);
X-Men: First Class (prequel);
Caesar: Rise of the Apes (remake);
Cowboys and aliens;
Conan the Barbarian (remake);
The Thing (prequel);
Sherlock Holmes 2 (sequel);

What's really amazing is how many movies on the list are remakes, prequels, or sequels. There are very few bright and shiny new movies here!

So which ones are you looking forward to?

Best and Worst Horror Movies of 2010

Time for a look back at the best and worst horror films of 2010. I'll have to rely on the experts here, since I almost never go to the theater to see a movie; I always wait until they are released on DVD (and thus, old news, lol).

Jeff's Top Horror Films of 2010

Best Horror Movies of 2010 (About.com)

I managed to see four films on the lists:

Daybreakers: I was psyched about the premise (vampires are the dominant species/ruling culture), and there is so much they could have done with the idea--but they didn't. I was unimpressed.

Legion: Also not impressed. I loved the little granny who clings to the ceiling and the ice cream man, but the rest of the movie was pretty lame. The only good that came out of that movie is that our family still jokes about it, often quoting the little granny's line about the babies and joking around about ice cream man phobia (the ice cream truck actually parked right beside my house last summer, and I sent photos to everyone with the caption "Help! Send more ammo!").

Shutter Island: I liked it, but not as much as most other people seem to. It was interesting and suspenseful at first, but the ending seemed a bit contrived and disappointing.

Predators: My fav for 2010. I was skeptical about the whole Topher Grace thing, but I ended up pleasantly surprised. It was much better than AVP Requiem.

So what was your favorite horror movie of 2010?

Horror news? Great! Now I'm craving Cinna-bites!

New releases in books:

Locus Online

And . . . you know it's coming . . . another remake movie! This time, it's a remake of the Hellraiser franchise. I loved the first one. It was very avant-garde for its time, and I'm a big fan of monsters and demons, so it was exactly my kind of movie. Pinhead was right up there with Freddy Krueger as one of my favorite characters.

The second Hellraiser was okay, saved by the introduction of new Cenobites. But after that . . . they lost me. I probably watched the third one, but I don't remember it.

And they went on to do nine Hellraiser movies, total! Seriously? Talk about beating a dead horse! I can't imagine how they found enough material to make nine of them. And nowadays, I can't hear the word "Cenobites" without thinking of McDonald's cinna-bites, so that takes a little of the scare quality out of the whole thing.

But the remake has me intrigued. You never know. Maybe with some new blood, they can bring back the magic and thrill of that first Hellraiser movie. But it will probably be a long time before we find out. Like most of these movies, it's been an uphill battle: budget, scripts, creative discord, etc. But I'll be keeping an eye out for new news; this is one I might actually want to see.

Some links on the Hellraiser remake:

The "official announcement" on movieweb . . . from 2006!

Info from the Clive Barker page

Recent blurb from Shock Till You Drop

In Hollywood, no one can hear you scream: "When can I see the movie?"

There's been some buzz lately about the Alien prequel. I'm still trying to distinguish fact from fiction and figure out the only thing I want to know . . . the most important thing of all: WHEN CAN I WATCH IT?

I never go to the theater to see a movie. I figure, why bother? I can rent it, sit at home on my comfy couch, with my sweet dogs, drinking a beer and eating nachos. Until someone comes up with that kind of movie theater (or at least one where I can bring my dogs without having to sneak them in as seeing eye dogs), I watch at home. But this one might actually draw me out of my house and into the communal joy of the movie-theater experience.

I just hope it will be worth it.

It seemed like I waited forever for Alien vs. Predator. There was so much discussion about it and they even made an "Alien vs. Predator" game. And we waited, and waited, and waited for the movie. When the movie finally came out, I was so excited I was practically apoplectic. And I liked it (the movie; I didn't like being apoplectic). The Bishop thing confused me, though. So his company eventually makes the Bishop robot that we see with Ripley in movie #2; but why does it look like him? I mean, we are talking centuries pass before the Bishop droid is made. It would be like Microsoft making a Bill robot in 2179).

I didn't have to wait as long for the next movie, AVP Requiem. I wish I had. Maybe they would have had time to come up with a better script. It was SO bad. And boring. And shot too dark for me to even see what the hell was going on half the time. But they didn't just disappoint me, they made me mad. They had such a great premise: a Predator-Xenomorph cross. SQUEE! How delicious is that? But somehow they still managed to flub it up. Bad . . . bad . . . bad.

So I am cautiously optimistic about the prequel. It seems they have Ridley Scott back on board, so that's a good sign. And he seems to want to take it back to its "art of H.R. Giger" roots, which would be good, too (so much dark, freaky atmosphere in every scene). So we'll have to see how it all works out.

As for the script: I was only kidding about my impatience. Take your time, boys. Do this one right!

Some links, if you're curious:

Film: Ridley Scott's Alien Prequel Details Revealed

ReelzChannel: Recent Alien Prequel Rumors Debunked

Sci-fi book releases

(Okay, you got me; I'm expanding "Frightly News" to include sci-fi and fantasy, too. But "Spec Fic News" doesn't have quite the same ring to it; actually, if you say it fast, it sounds like you're choking on something: "Spek Phhhik Newzzz." Cool).

Sci-fi book releases:

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/11/fiction-affliction-diagnosing-december-releases-in-science-fiction

Also in the news:

Frank Darabont Fires Walking Dead Writing Staff

"Let's see. I just created an amazingly successful hit series that has created huge buzz. What should I do next? Oh, I know! I'll fire everyone and start from scratch!"

I don't know. He probably knows what he's doing, but it seems like a pretty boneheaded move to me. I guess we'll have to wait until next season to see how this affects the series.

Wait! Do you think this has anything to do with those plot holes? LOL!

You had me at . . . "Zombie Apocalypse"

The season finale for AMC's The Walking Dead airs on Sunday. If you've missed an episode--and if you have, what the heck is wrong with you?--they'll be running a marathon prior to the finale so you can catch up (one of the benefits of a short season, I guess: you can run the entire season in less than a day).

If you're a fan of zombies, you've probably seen all the episodes already. If you're not familiar with zombies, or if you're a little bit squeamish, this is NOT the show to cut your horror teeth on. It's not a splatterpunk festival, but it's also not shy about sloshing a little gore around. My daughter (a big fan of zombies, and not generally squeamish at all) got a little upset when a very, VERY bad thing happened to a innocent horse. The show is also doing a fairly strong job of building characters and character relationships, and bad things sometimes happen to the people you like (or bad things happen to the people who are loved by the people you like, and then the people you like have to make some cold, hardcore decisions that might leave you a little breathless). It's a little gory, a little gritty, a little gut-wrenching. Four stars, baby!

If you're already a fan, then you're probably wondering when the series will be coming back. Right now, rumor has it that it will be next October. Way too long, if you ask me. And I don't say that just as a fan, impatiently waiting to see what happens next; when you air a series for two months, then leave it for ten months, it's going to lose some of it's buzz. The excitement around it is going to wane a little. You are almost going to have to reintroduce the whole thing to everyone but your core fan base, and it's going to be a little bit like starting from scratch. So I think it's a bad marketing decision . . . but what do I know?

I obsessively put my name into their contest every week (Win a "stagger on roll!" Are you serious? Fingers, toes, and eyes crossed for luck). So I guess I qualify as a member of the hardcore fan base, and I'll be anxiously waiting for the series to return.

The good, the bad, & the deja vu

Three new movies. One sounds good, one is yet another remake, and the third makes me say, "You've got to be kidding."

The one that sounds good is Battle: Los Angeles. It's another aliens-destroying-all-the-big-cities movie, but I can't get enough of that no matter how many movies they make. And I'm a big "monster" fan, so I love movies that have really good monsters and aliens. And really, if aliens did invade, would they be pestering two brothers at their rural house near a cornfield? No. They would invade and destroy the big cities. Yeah, the title is a little lame (okay, a lot of lame), but as someone who has a work-in-progress novel with the working title of Space Spiders, who am I to talk!

The yet-another-remake is Total Recall. As I was searching for news on this movie, most of the articles I read also included comments like, "This is a movie that should never have been re-made" and "why the hell are they remaking this?" Colin Farrell in Arnie's role? Have a hard time imagining it. But then I had a hard time imagining Topher Grace and Adrien Brody in Predators, but it worked. So who knows? I loved the original even though it was a little cheesy at times; but who doesn't love a little cheese? Of course, I'm a big fan of the Evil Dead/Army of Darkness movies, so maybe I like a lot of cheese.

And the oh-my-god-you've-got-to-be-kidding is Red Riding Hood. This one sounds so ridiculous that I thought it was a joke. However, I thought Sleepy Hollow sounded like a lame idea, but I ended up kind of liking it (but only kind of). So who knows. This one could end up being decent, too. But I'll definitely wait until it comes out on video to see it.