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New Shudder Podcast Serves Up Horror History UNCUT

Eli Roth's History of Horror podcast

If you’ve seen Eli Roth’s History of Horror series on Shudder (and if you haven’t, what are you waiting for?!), you know what a killer lineup of authors, filmmakers and genre experts Roth lined up to help unpack topics like vampires, ghosts and slashers. Greg Nicotero and Rob Zombie? Got ’em. Diablo Cody? Check. Victor LaValle? Present. Edgar Wright, Quentin Tarantino? Yes and yes. Tony Todd? You don’t have to say his name three times, he’s already here. Stephen MF-ing King? Now we’re talking…

Eli Roth and Stephen King

And talk they and many others did, in more detail and at greater length than there was time to include in the show. But fear not! These great conversations are available in Shudder’s new podcast, Eli Roth’s History of Horror: Uncut.

“We had the most incredible, in-depth conversations about the horror genre and so much of that amazing material was unable to fit in the show,” Roth said. “I’m so excited for everyone to hear the full interviews, each one of these could have been its own show. There’s so much there beneath the surface of a scary movie, and these interviews will entertain, inform, and help you see the genre and its creators in an entirely new light. I’m very thankful to AMC and Shudder for putting together this amazing collection, and to all the wonderful guests who gave their time to share their thoughts and one-of-a-kind stories.”

All episodes will premiere on Shudder on Friday, May 3, for your binge-listening pleasure. Or if you prefer to get your podcasts elsewhere, the Stephen King episode will launch May 3, with new episodes rolled out every Monday and Friday thereafter. Check out the trailer here.

Eli Roth, Rob Zombie and Greg Nicotero
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This week, You’re Invited to a MONSTER PARTY

At least twice a month, we bring you a Shudder exclusive or original film you can’t stream anywhere else. This week it’s Monster Party from writer/director Chris von Hoffmann, which premiered at last year’s Beyond Fest. The killer (all puns intended) cast includes Sam Strike (Leatherface), Virginia Gardner (2018’s Halloween), Erin Moriarty (True Detective), Robin Tunney (The Craft), Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck) and Lance Reddick (John Wick). Curator Sam Zimmerman calls it rowdy, bloody, stylish and surprising.

Synopsis: Three small-time burglars pose as caterers for a fancy dinner party at an extravagant mansion. But their plan for the perfect heist goes horribly wrong when they discover that the family and their guests are actually a support group of recovering serial killers.

Monster Party premieres on Shudder this Thursday. Are you ready to party?

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Getting CREEP-y with Greg Nicotero

Greg Nicotero

For showrunner Greg Nicotero, Creepshow is more than just a passion project—it’s his life coming full circle. The Pittsburgh native visited the set of the 1982 original, and counts its 1987 sequel among his earliest film credits.

In this behind-the-scenes video, Nicotero shares his thoughts about what it’s like to bring Creepshow back to life as TV series, and to bring some of his longtime friends and collaborators on board with him.

Creepshow premieres on Shudder later this year, so you better believe we’ll have more updates and announcements soon here on the blog. For even more, follow Greg on Instagram @gnicotero and Creepshow on Twitter and Instagram @CreepshowTV

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Why BLACK CHRISTMAS is an Iconic Slasher, Is the Future of Horror in Comedy? and More!

In this Issue:

HORROR HISTORY: BLOOD ACTUALLY: THE LEGACY OF BLACK CHRISTMAS

By Alexandra West*

Did you hear the one about the sorority with the dead bodies in the attic? If you aren’t already familiar with Bob Clark’s iconic cult slasher Black Christmas from 1974, chances are you’ve heard about Blumhouse’supcomingremake. If you need a primer, here are the basics: set in a sorority house at the onset of the holiday break, young women are picked off one by one by a man hiding in their house who may or may not be connected to the threatening phone calls they’ve been receiving. Oh, it was also remade in 2006 with the edgy retitling Black Xmas. 

But let’s get back to the OG.

Simply put, without Black Christmas, we wouldn’t haveHalloween, Friday the 13th or any of your other favorite slashers. At least not in the way we know and love them. While Black Christmas is an unsettling, eerie and disturbing film, it also codified many of the tropes we’ve come to know and love in the slasher genre. From the killer’s POV shot to the Final Girl and the situational set up of unsupervised co-eds, Black Christmas synthesized elements from Hitchcock’sPsycho, Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom, and even a splattering of giallos to create a dark holiday fable designed to get young people into movie theatres.

Black Christmas, however, was not just an arbiter of the slasher genre; it set a standard that has been aimed for and rarely repeated with its female characters. While many horror films give their women and Final Girls interesting, dramatic roles, rarely does this consideration extend to the victims in the film. Rarer still does a film directly tackle a narrative where the protagonist intends to have an abortion, making it a rational, undramatic decision. The female characters in Black Christmas are at any given moment funny, lively, tragic, conflicted, excited and scared. They feel like real people with interior worlds and lives.

Black Christmas has long remained a staple of the horror genre which proves you can have it all; from iconic tropes and violent deaths to endearing characters and genuine feminism. No matter what your stance on the remakes, it’s hard to deny the power of the original which situates likable characters against the most depressing Christmas season on record.

Black Christmas is available to stream on Shudder. 

*Alexandra West is the author of Films of the New French Extremity and The 1990s Teen Horror Cycle for McFarland & Company. She has co-hosted the Faculty of Horror podcast with Rue Morgue Executive Editor Andrea Subissati since its inception in 2012.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Hey, Lo Pan! The Check Is In The Mail!

John Carpenter’s cult classic Big Trouble In Little China turns 33 this week, so here’s a behind-the-scenes shot of James Hong laughing it up with Carpenter to celebrate. As if he weren’t intimidating enough as Lo Pan, Hong holds the record for most film and television credits, alive or dead, with 500!

TINY BITES

LGBTQ HORROR HISTORY, STRANGER THINGS ARCADE GAMES AND MORE

Emily St. John Mandel’s international bestseller, Station Eleven, is getting the TV treatment from the creator of Netflix’s Maniac. The post-apocalyptic series follows the survivors of a devastating flu as they try to rebuild society after its collapse.

Is the future of horror … in comedy? There are some truly amazing horror projects on the horizon from creatives like Jordan Peele, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Chris Rock, and many more.

Attack of the Queerwolf co-host Sam Wineman’s giving the history of queer representation in horror the Horror Noire treatment in an upcoming Shudder documentary executive produced by Kelly Ryan and Fangoria editor-in-chief Phil Nobile Jr.

We’re still grieving over the announcement that DC is closing their Vertigo line, but their new pop-up imprint, Hill House Comics, curated by none other than Joe Hill, is giving us life.

Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival kicks off their 23rd year with the world premiere of Sadako, the latest Ringu film directed by franchise creator, Hideo Nakata.

Sure it’s a marketing tie in, but we’re still delighted by the secret Stranger Things retro arcade game hiding on Polaroid’s website. No quarters required!

Screen Rant put together a list of the best horror movies that use practical effects. They’ve got everything from werewolves to cenobites, but it’s the callback to Peter Jackson’s gore-filled roots with baby Selwyn that’s the real treat.

Chucky isn’t the only killer in the toybox. Wired’s assembled a Child’s Play-inspired list that’ll get any horror fan or newcomer into the subgenre of killer dolls.

LGBT pride should last year round, so check out this list of the best LGBTQ horror where classics like Nightmare on Elm Street 2 and Nightbreed are joined by some glorious new flesh.

Cosmo curated a list of amazing classic horror lit to give you chills in the summer heat.

Smitten by the In Fabric trailer, Gizmodo counted down their top 7 “glamorously gruesome” films that stitch together the worlds of high fashion and horror.

THINGS WE LOVE: MEMENTO MORI BONSAI

We are living for these Grave Yard Bonsai Mountain Skulls from Jack of the Dust. Each one is hand made and completely unique. Make sure you check out their website for more of their amazing skull work – you’ll be like a kid in a sick, twisted candy shop.

HEY, THAT’S US! – SHUDDER IN THE NEWS

Shudder Announces New Queer Horror Doc + July U.S. Highlights & More

Patrick Schwarzenegger Thriller ‘Daniel Isn’t Real’ Lands at Samuel Goldwyn Films and Shudder

AMC Streamer Shudder Picks Up Zombie Thriller ‘Blood Quantum’ For US, UK & Australia; XYZ Strikes Int’l Pacts

Maxine Peake-Starring Thriller ‘Gwen’ Goes to RLJE Films, Shudder (Exclusive)

Fantasia 2019: Final Wave of Films and Events Includes SADAKO, VIVARIUM, Joe Bob Briggs, And More! (Shudder Presents Joe Bob Briggs Live: How Rednecks Saved Hollywood)

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Horror History: The Legacy of LAND OF THE DEAD, Bruce Gets a Makeover (JAWS), and More!

In this Issue:

HORROR HISTORY: THE LEGACY OF LAND OF THE DEAD

By Brian Keene *

I first met George Romero during a private party at a convention. Greg Nicotero handled the introductions, and I was nervous. But George was gracious and friendly and quickly put me at ease. I told him about growing up on his films. He asked me to sign a book for him. And then we talked shop.

I asked him what he was working on, and he told me about Land of the Dead — a movie about a group of survivors banded together inside an impregnable, high-tech skyscraper run by a megalomaniac while a horde of zombies gather outside.

George then asked me what I was working on, and I told him about City of the Dead — a novel about a group of survivors banded together inside an impregnable, high-tech skyscraper run by a megalomaniac while a horde of zombies gather outside.

We shared a good laugh over that.

Land of the Dead and City of the Dead came out around the same time, and as you might expect, there were a some who accused me of ripping off George or vice versa. In reality, we were both doing what horror has always done — taking humankind’s fears and examining them through the safety of the genre.

This was something George had been doing since the 1960s. Night of the Living Dead is a study of race relations and xenophobia. Dawn of the Dead is an indictment of consumer culture. Day of the Dead is the Cold War through a mirror darkly. And Land of the Dead is about a post-9/11 society. And me, having grown up on those films? I was doing the same thing with City of the Dead. If you were alive at that time, then you remember how scary it was.

The best horror, be it film or prose, takes the very real terrors we all face, and presents them in a safe way for further examination … and to predict the future.

Look at the world now in 2019. George Romero predicted it in 2005 with Land of the Dead. He wasn’t just a director. He was a prophet.

*Brian Keene is the author of over forty books, mostly in the horror, crime, and dark fantasy genres. He also hosts the popular podcasts The Horror Show with Brian Keene and Defenders Dialogue.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Bruce Gets a Makeover

Just in time for the 44th anniversary of the 1975 classic, JAWS, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and Greg Nicotero released pictures of the OG eating machine. KNB EFX has been working closely with the Academy Museum conservation team to restore Bruce back to his former glory, and it shows.

TINY BITES

HALLOWEEN 2, SADAKO MANGA, AND MORE

Laurie Strode isn’t done with Michael Myers yet. ’s efforts didn’t pay off since David Gordon Green has reportedly finished the script for Halloween 2, and Jamie Lee Curtis will be back. It’s coming October 2020. 

Chucky’s back in the latest Child’s Play with a lot less Charles Lee Ray and way more Asimovian dysfunction. To celebrate, Megan Navarro put together a killer list of deep cuts where technology’s gone awry.

Sadako’s getting her own comedy manga seriescalled Sadako-san To Sadako-chan (Ms. Sadako and Little Sadako). Sadako becomes a YouTube celebrity, a plot twist we never knew we needed.

The MTV Movie Awards had a Most Frightened Performance category, and even while it would have been cool to see Hereditary’s Alex Wolff take home the golden popcorn, Sandra Bullock’s acceptance speech for Bird Box was deeply touching.

Blumhouse’s Black Christmas remake got some new blood: Cary Elwes has joined the cast.

Want more Cary Elwes? As you wish. He makes a brief appearance in the final trailer for Stranger Thingsseason 3.

Meanwhile, the Upside Down’s favorite police chief, David Harbour, is making a mockumentary comedy special for Netflix called Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein.

Paramount is working with Blumhouse to make a newParanormal Activity installment. The studio also announced that A Quiet Place 2 started production with Emily Blunt in the lead.

As if the week weren’t already full of killer content, we got this delightfully absurd red band trailer for Ready Or Not that is giving major You’re Next vibes.

“A psychedelic fairy tale“,”a wickedly funny romp“, “Midsommar is a masterpiece“. The consensus is that Ari Aster’s sophomore flick is “gonna fuck y’all up“.

According to Jordan Peele, Us is the Easter horror flick you never knew you always needed.

In response to the Child’s Play/Toy Story 4 crossover posters, artist Jason A. Messina gave the mutant toys from the first Toy Storyan opportunity to get even. With a blender.

THINGS WE LOVE: THE BANANA SPLITS GO FUNKO

This August, we’re getting an R-rated Banana Splits horror movie. But at San Diego Comic-Con, the fun starts now! Bingo, Fleegle, Snorky, and Drooper are getting the Funko treatment, and are being made into special edition Pez dispensers as an SDCC exclusive.

HEY, THAT’S US! – SHUDDER IN THE NEWS

The best horror films of 2019 so far 

Big Boi and Kid Cudi join the cast of Shudder’s Creepshow

What’s New To Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, And Shudder This Week?

TV News Roundup: Showtime Drops ‘The Affair’ Final Season Teaser (Watch) (Cast and segment information on Shudder’s Creepshow)

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

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Horror Slaycations, BLACK CHRISTMAS Reboot, and More!

In this Issue:

HORROR HISTORY: HORROR SLAYCATIONS

By Joshua Lyon

Tolstoy claimed that all great storytelling falls into one of two categories – a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town. If you base a scary movie around a vacation, you get both! Tension builds as characters contend with problems like culture clashes, unfamiliar landscapes, language barriers, baggage both physical and emotional, and that’s before the bodies start to pile up. As we eagerly await the July release of Ari Aster’s Midsommer, about a trip to a pagan summer festival that turns seriously sinister, we’re revisiting a few other vacation horror movies that left us with fond memories.

Stories about road trips gone wrong tend to journey into hixploitation, as evidenced in 1964’s Two Thousand Maniacs!, which pits Yankees lured off the main highway against a town full of Southern Confederates. Deformed local goons that prey upon unsuspecting teens and families on wheels have set the stage for many a franchise, including The Hills Have Eyes, Wrong Turn, and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. 

Backpackers don’t fare any better in the Wolf Creekfilms once they encounter psychotic Mick Taylor (then again, pretty much anything in Australia can kill you), while An American Werewolf in London serves as a clear warning for tourists to keep off the English moors during a full moon. Many Friday the 13th films toss a few random campers into Jason’s kill count on top of the requisite counselors; closely related is the formula of depositing victims into a rented or borrowed cabin in the woods for a weekend of fun, a plot device so common it earned its own movie, The Cabin in the Woods. 

For merrymakers in foreign countries, the destination is often their final one, whether partying in Mexico (devoured by killer vines in The Ruins), Brazil (harvested for organs in Turistas), or Slovakia (tortured by the highest bidder in Hostel and its criminally underrated sequel). 

The best getaway horror films make a point of turning the location itself into the star, like the claustrophobic maze of caves in The Descent, the inherent surrealism of Disney World in Escape From Tomorrow, and even the icy, isolating terror of an open ski lift in Frozen. 

Too bad none of these films’ characters took note of the grim warning tucked inside the lyrics of “Vacation” by The Go-Go’s: “Now that I’m away, I wish I’d stayed.”

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Happy Birthday, Gremlins!

Joe Dante’s holiday horror classic turned 35 last week and to celebrate, Warner Bros. released some special images from their archives. This sweet moment between Stripe and puppet designer, Chris Walas, is a definite highlight.

TINY BITES

DANNY TORRENCE IS BACK, CHUCKY’S NEW THEME & MORE

Entertainment Weekly says these are “the best horror movies of 2019 so far.” And you can watch three of them on Shudder right now.

The holidays came early with Blumhouse announcing a second reboot of Black Christmas, with Sophia Takal in the director’s chair. The original 1974 film is a Canadian horror classic that popularized slasher tropes as we know them. The 2006 remake has … niche appeal.

Bear McCreary shared his epic Child’s Play themewith the public, and it is incredible. Make sure you listen all the way to the end for a special … treat.

McCreary also made a music video for the themecomplete with creepy toys and manic gestures. It is everything.

Stephen King called on Netflix to remake Under The Dome by “starting from scratch and actually doing the book.”

And Danny Torrence is back in the new trailer for Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep. A sequel to The Shining, it’s got King’s seal of approval, so we’re all in!

HBO and Fred Armisen have teamed up for a Spanish-language horror-comedy series, Los Espookys, and it looks delightful.

Moschino got spooky with their 2020 spring runway show. Their best accessory? A bejeweled slit throat.

Amazon’s Dark Tower series is shooting in Croatiawith The Walking Dead’s Michael Rooker, whose role has yet to be announced.

Sony Pictures Animation announced they’re developing Anthony Bourdain’s graphic novel, “Hungry Ghosts”, into a twisted culinary-inspired anthology series.

In anticipation of Nightmare Cinema’s June 21st release date, Mick Garris shared an awesome list ofhis top 5 horror anthologies of all time.

The Midnight Society has some new members as the cast was announced for the Are You Afraid Of The Dark? revival.

Want some off-the-radar horror to check out this summer? Bloody Disgusting’s got you covered with this list of 10 great lesser-known slashers.

For Tales From The Crypt’s 30th anniversary, Meagan Navarro ranked the 10 most gruesome episodes, including the killer Santa classic “And All Through The House” from the series premiere.

Gayly Dreadful pays tribute to Don Mancini’s “queer inclusion” in the Child’s Play franchise – with extra love for camp gem Seed of Chucky.

THINGS WE LOVE: BACK TO THE NOSTROMO

We’re obsessed with this limited-edition Alien print from Sideshow Collectibles. Playing with some of the iconic imagery we’ve all come to know and love, artist Orlando Arocena is giving us something new and unique, with Ripley front and center where she belongs.

HEY, THAT’S US! – SHUDDER IN THE NEWS

Horror Movie Summer Preview 

How the horror community is celebrating Pride Month 

The Week In Horror: Under the Tusk-an Sun with ‘Boar’ on Shudder 

Tom Savini on Corey Taylor’s New Mask, Joy of Scaring People, Life as “Sex Machine” 

BLOOD MACHINES Acquired By Shudder, New Teaser Features New Music By Carpenter Brut

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Jason Vorhees’ Birthday, Sigourney Weaver Confirms Return for GHOSTBUSTERS Sequel, and More!

In this Issue:

HORROR HISTORY: HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON VORHEES!

By Lisa Morton

On June 13, 1946, Jason Voorhees was born, and so today we celebrate his birthday … and also his death day, since we learned in the first movie based on the arc of his infamous life (Friday the 13th, 1980) that he drowned in 1957 at Camp Crystal Lake. Even though it was actually Jason’s mother knocking off all those kids who tried to get the camp going again in 1980, it was Jason who haunted the dreams of survivors.

Soon however, Jason stepped out of mere dreams: a year later we learned he hadn’t actually drowned, but had survived and spent all those years practicing his killing skills alone out in the woods (Friday the 13th Part Two, 1981). Talk about a survivalist!

Jason started his killing wearing nothing but an unstylish gunny sack, but he soon stepped up to his classic look when he took a hockey mask off his latest victim (Friday the 13th Part 3, 1982). When one of those meddling kids chopped her axe into Jason’s head it looked like curtains for our anti-hero, but he revived in the morgue (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, 1984) and found his way back to Camp Crystal Lake and a fresh offering of youthful victims. This time, though, the final girl (and boy) gave him a few extra machete chops for good measure.

For a while (Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, 1985), it looked as if Jason was really gone, with only his mask left behind to tempt others into acts of bloody mayhem. But when his exhumed body was struck by lightning (Friday the 13th, Part VI: Jason Lives, 1986), he was back to his old self, slicing and dicing those sex-crazed teens.

Over the next 30 years, Jason enjoyed a Manhattan murder spree (Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, 1989), possessed a string of new bodies (Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, 1993), hacked his way through outer space (Jason X, 2002), and took on his closest rival (Freddy Vs. Jason, 2003). In 2009, Jason proved you can come home again, as he returned to Camp Crystal Lake to rip his way through another crew of sex-and-drug-loving kids (Friday the 13th reboot).

Jason Voorhees is a survivor and an undisputed slasher king, and proves like no other that you can’t keep a good maniac down.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK


Depp’s Nightmare Death

Johnny Depp preps for his death scene — which required 80 gallons of blood (so much it shorted out the electrical equipment) — on the set of A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).

TINY BITES

JORDAN PEELE’S CANDYMAN,  SIGOURNEY WEAVER’S RETURN & MORE

Turns out Jordan Peele’s upcoming Candyman movie is going to be about “the most problematic thing facing the genre” — toxic fandom.

Meanwhile, Peele praised Ari Aster’s Midsommer,saying it “usurps The Wicker Man as the most iconic pagan movie.”

Swamp Thing has been cancelled after only one season — and North Carolina says you shouldn’t blame them.

Sigourney Weaver confirms she’s returning for the upcoming Ghostbusters sequel.

George Romero’s archives — including everything from his annotated script for Night of the Living Deadto a foam latex zombie head — have been donated to the University of Pittsburgh Library.

Screenwriter Gary Dauberman claimed “I haven’t seen a scary vampire movie in a long, long time” and plans to change that with his script for the Salem’s Lotmovie.

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are teaming up for yet another film, and this time it’s Svalta, about a serial killer hunting stranded tourists.

Check out the bloody and bizarre trailer for Mutant Blast, Troma’s new movie mixing horror and sci-fi set after a radioactive zombie apocalyse.

Steven Spielberg is working on a “super scary show” for the new digital platform Quibi — which he apparently only wants us to be able to watch at midnight.

A new trailer for Guillermo del Toro’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark finally lets us see the monsters more clearly.

Archaeologists dug up cannonballs from Vlad Dracula’s battlefield victory. (We hope that’s all they dug up.)

A Bigfoot researcher got the FBI to cough up itssecret Sasquatch files.

Mark Hamill plays a creepy game of peekaboo in this sneak peek of a scene from the new Chucky movie.

Parents threw a Nun-themed birthday party for their three-year-old and we don’t know whether to be worried or give the kid a subscription to Shudder.

THINGS WE LOVE: LOST BOYS FOUND

John Alvin’s original poster for TheLost Boys has become iconic, but the artist also came up with dozens of other concepts for the film’s 1987 release. Now threedifferentunused posters are finally being made available for your den … or wherever else you happen to sleep all day before partying all night.

HEY, THAT’S US! – SHUDDER IN THE NEWS

[Movie Review] Boar Goes Hilariously Whole Hog

Blood Beats: Amanda Grace Benitez Embraces Her Inner Punk in The Ranger [Interview]

Greg Nicotero Reveals New Artwork of “The Creep” from Shudder’s Creepshow Series

Shudder Introduces Queer Horror Collection for Pride Month

NPR’s Horror Movie Summer Preview (Tigers Are Not Afraid, One Cut of the Dead)

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Horror History: Why POLTERGEIST Still Scares Me, How Watching Horror Films Can Help Your Relationship, and More!

In this Issue:

HORROR HISTORY: WHY POLTERGEIST STILL SCARES ME

By Jeff Strand

“They’re heeeeere … “

Even at the time of release, June 4,1982, that line (so heavily used in the marketing) had become more of a pop culture catchphrase than something genuinely spooky. But audiences soon learned Poltergeist more than delivered the scares.

It’s a movie where a tree breaks through a kid’s window and tries to eat him. It’s a movie where that same poor kid is dragged under his bed by his clown doll. It’s an action-packed special effects-laden extravaganza with ghosts and maggots and skeletons falling out of coffins and giant monsters. Why is that terrifying white creature blocking the door? Because it’s cool and scary.

But there were quieter chills as well. For example, everything Zelda Rubenstein says, especially the line reading of “There is peace and serenity in the light.” The disembodied voice of Carol Anne telling her parents that there’s somebody with her. And even with dated effects, the scene with ghosts slowly floating down the staircase is supremely eerie.

Though Poltergeist was a collaboration between Tobe Hooper, who directed, and Steven Spielberg, who wrote and produced, audiences at the time would have been forgiven for expecting a film more E.T. the Extraterrestrial than The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. After all, Spielberg’s name appeared in huge letters at the beginning of the original trailer, with Hooper’s name only in smaller type at the end, while the narrator promised that “now Stephen Spielberg crosses a frightening new threshold into a world within our own.” Which made the scene where the guy tears off his own face — easily one of the goriest moments to appear in a PG-rated film, and a sequence that is even more over-the-top in James Kahn’s novelization — a surprisingly graphic moment.

In some ways the legacy of Poltergeist comes as much from what happened behind the scenes. Heather O’Rourke died at age 12, before Poltergeist III was released. Dominique Dunne (who played the older sister Dana) was murdered by her boyfriend a few months after the first movie came out. There was also the “Did Spielberg direct this film instead of Tobe Hooper?” controversy, with varying answers given by people on the set, and still being debated 37 years later.

The film was a massive box office hit, one of the top 10 moneymakers of the year, and also enjoyed critical success along with three Academy Award nominations in technical categories. It remains an enduring horror classic and is still one of the scariest films ever made.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Creepy, Kooky, Colorful

The Addams Family house from the original TV show may have been a museum when people came to see ’em, but one thing it definitely wasn’t was black white. That may be all viewers got to see on their small screens in the ’60s, but here’s a picture of the real-life set in glorious color.

TINY BITES

STEPHEN KING BEDTIME STORY, WALKING DEAD SUPERCUT & MORE

Science says if you want to have a happy relationship, you should start watching horror movies together.

In news that may or may not be related, someone started a dating app for horror fans.

On the other hand, actually being in a horror movie can doom a relationship, as proven by these 10 friendships gone bad.

David Harbour believes the biggest problem with his recent Hellboy movie was that audiences compared it to Marvel’s movies and thought “this does not taste like chocolate at all.”

A Japanese coffee commercial cleverly honored Haruo Nakajima, the man inside the Godzilla suit for 12 consecutive films.

If you want to learn more about kaiju, head to the recently opened Miyoshi Mononoke Museum — the first focused entirely on Japanese monsters.

Relive nine seasons of The Walking Dead with a supercut collecting one second from every episode.

Horror writer Dennis Etchison — who wrote novelizations for The Fog, Videodrome, andHalloween, and was given the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2017 — has died at 76.

If you want to redecorate your living room so it looks exactly like the Byers family house fromStranger Things, IKEA’s got everything you need. And if you’d rather eat Stranger Things than pretend to live in it, Baskin-Robbins is selling a Demogorgon Sundae.

Tony Todd’s tease about a Candyman cameo turns out to have been “a bit premature.”

Stephen King tucked us all in with a horror story this weekend.

Why was The Dark Tower so disappointing? Ron Howard said it’s because he made a “sort of a boy’s adventure” when “it should’ve been horror.”

While we wait for that J. J. Abrams/Jordan Peele series Lovecraft Country to launch on HBO, here are 10 things we know about it.

Todd McFarlane says the money’s there for a big-screen Spawn reboot, but the only holdup is the script, warning “if I have to change it too much, I’ll just walk away from it all.”

The Perfection on Netflix movie is apparently making many viewers “feel like puking.”

THINGS WE LOVE: AUDIO ALIENS

Though we’ll probably never get to see William Gibson’s unfilmed screenplay for Aliens III on the screen, we’re finally getting the chance to hear it, thanks to Audible’s multicast dramatization. Lance Henriksen and Michael Biehn return as Bishop and Corporal Hicks, and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate the 40th anniverary of the birth of the Aliens franchise than by slipping on our headphones and immersing ourselves in this legendary sequel that never was (but finally is) from the Father of Cyberpunk. 

HEY, THAT’S US! – SHUDDER IN THE NEWS

Shudder Announces Visitations with Elijah Wood & Daniel Noah Podcast

Creepshow: David Arquette, Tricia Helfer & Dana Gould Join Shudder Series; Tom Savini To Direct

[Exclusive Interview] The Nightshifter Director Dennison Ramalho Trades Secrets on Brazilian Horror and the Dead

[Images] Killer Pig Flick Boar Starring Bill Moseley Coming to Shudder in June

Shudder Announces Its June 2019 U.S. Highlights

The Last Drive-In pulls out all the stops for the Season 1 finale

Three Nightmare Cinema Directors to Present Shudder Screening Series An Evening of Nightmares

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Horror History: The King of Kaiju, 1960s-era GHOSTBUSTER Prequel & More!

In this issue:

HORROR HISTORY: KING OF THE KAIJU

By Lisa Morton

We only got a few more days until Godzilla: King of the Monsters unleashes King Ghidorah, Rodan, Mothra, and Godzilla in theaters around the world. For 65 years, that raging reptile has arguably been the most famous of kaiju. But he’s not the only giant monster to rampage through our hearts.

Many forget that there wasn’t a straight (crushed and burned) pathway leading from 1933’s King Kong to the original 1954 Godzilla, because the film that really started the giant-creature-unleashed-by-atomic-power craze was the classic The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, which beat Godzilla by sixteen months.Beast featured a story by Ray Bradbury and stunning stop-motion animation by the maestro himself, Ray Harryhausen. It was directed by French filmmaker Eugène Lourié, who would go on to make two more giant monster flicks: The Giant Behemoth (1959) and 1961’s Gorgo, about a rampaging nightmare who (spoiler alert!) turns out to be a kid dinosaur with a really pissed-off mom.

There’s no question, though, that the first Godzillawas a landmark. Directed by Ishirō Honda, with effects by Eiji Tsuburaya and released by Toho Studios, Godzilla transcended its “man-in-a-suit” approach to its titular monster to convey a terrifying and trenchant commentary on a post-atomic-bomb Japan.

The 1950s saw a lot of kaiju movies from both sides of the Pacific. Them! (1954) — with its traumatized little girl uttering the movie’s title after glimpsing the giant ants — is one of the best. Look for Leonard Nimoy in an early, uncredited role.

Harryhausen animated two more memorable monsters from the decade: the huge octopus of It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955) — impressive even though the film’s limited budget forced Harryhausen to animate his creature with only six tentacles instead of eight — and the Venusian Ymir from 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) — with a monster which doubled in size every 24 hours. Jack Arnold’s 1955 Tarantula! is notable for resorting to footage of an actual spider intercut with shots of a manufactured face (because apparently real tarantulas aren’t scary enough).

In Japan, the kaiju craze was in full swing, as the 1950s also introduced us to Rodan (1956), changed from Radon so as not to confuse English-speaking audiences — The Mysterians (1957), perhaps the most science fictional of the giant monster movies — plus Varan the Unbelievable (1958), with drastically different Japanese and U.S. cuts. Godzilla made a second appearance in 1955’s Godzilla Raids Again (released in a recut U.S. version under the titleGigantis the Fire Monster).

Whether classic or cheesy, we love ’em all, which is why we can’t wait to see what the new Godzilla adds to the kaiju canon.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Poker-faced Leatherface

Bill Johnson, Jim Siedow, Bill Moseley — better known as Leatherface, Drayton “The Cook” Sawyer, and Chop Top — play poker behind the scenes on the set of Texas Chainsaw Massacre II. But what we want to know is — how can you tell when a guy wearing a mask made of human skin is bluffing?

TINY BITES

BLACK MIRROR‘S MUSICAL EPISODE, FRIDAY THE 13TH FAN FILM & MORE

The Upside Down’s not the only disaster to hit theStranger Things town of Hawkins, Indiana. Now they— and we — are getting New Coke back.

Dan Aykroyd says he’s already handed in the script for a 1960s-era Ghostbusters prequel which will reveal how the famous parapsychologists met during high school.

Giancarlo Esposito would “fight to the death” to play Hannibal Lecter. (Yes, yes, yes.)

Here are three trailers from Black Mirror‘s new season, none of which is for a musical episode. But series creator Charlie Brooker says one could be coming.

A Friday the 13th fan film about bounty hunters who stumble into the Camp Crystal Lake campgrounds while chasing escaped cons is more than halfway funded on Indiegogo.

If you want to feel like you’re living in a horror movie, the estate where a serial killer buried his victims’ bodies is up for grabs. But if you’d rather justwatch serial killers, here are 10 horror movies based on true events.

Check out the bloody and surprisingly relevant trailer for The Nightingale, the new movie from the director of The Babadook. We suspect things won’t end well.

The New York Times remembers Debra Hill —producer, screenwriter, and frequent John Carpenter collaborator — without whom there’d have been no Halloween, The Fog, or  Escape from New York.

A list of 13 horror movies that did “insanely well” at the box office also explains one reason why — their often smaller-than-blockbuster budgets help make their profits even more profitable.

Horror superhero Spawn celebrates his 300th issue with a giant-sized 72-page comic plus 12 covers — including one an homage to his classicAmazing Spider-Man #300 cover.

Artist Noger Chen’s kaiju-sized painting depicts every live-action Godzilla from 1954 through 2019 so you can see how they compare.

Weird Tales, the legendary pulp magazine known for being the first to publish H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos stories, is relaunching in July with original fiction from Victor LaValle, Lisa Morton, Josh Malerman, and others. Sign us up!

James DeMonaco — screenwriter for all four Purgemovies and director of the first three — says the next film in the franchise will be the last, but he promises it will have “a really cool ending.” 

THINGS WE LOVE: REVIVING STEPHEN KING

Even if you’ve already read Stephen King’s 2014 novel Revival — which the New York Times called “a master storyteller having the time of his life” — a new deluxe limited edition takes the experience to the next level. The slipcased volume features 16 full-color illustrations by François Vaillancourt, an intro by Josh Boone — who’s writing and directing the upcoming feature film adaptation — artwork created by Vincent Chong for the film, and much more. Revival‘s not scheduled for release until December, but you can pre-order today.

HEY, THAT’S US! – SHUDDER IN THE NEWS

Exclusive: The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob BriggsSeason 2 Ordered By Shudder

Shudder Renews The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs for Another Season

The Nightshifter Review: Revenge Has Consequences Beyond the Grave

25YL Has A Few Suggestions For The Last Drive-In(and Shudder)

19 Best Horror TV Shows To Watch On Streaming, Including Netflix, Amazon, And Shudder (Black Lake, Wolf Creek, Beyond the Walls)

Summer Horror Preview: Midsommar, Child’s Play, and Scary Stories We Can’t Wait to Watch (Boar, Tigers Are Not Afraid)

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11 scariest 3D horror movie moments, analyzing THE EXORCIST & more

A Dimension of Fear

By Lisa Morton

Long before “immersive” became a buzzword — all the way back to this week in 1953 when the 3D House of Wax opened across the U.S. — audiences have loved movies that promised that third dimension of thrills. Who doesn’t love the feeling of being right in the middle of the action? Add in the element of horror, and you’ve got a movie experience like no other.

In honor of that first color 3-D feature from a major American studio — which was even selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress — we’re taking a look back at 11 of the scariest 3D moments in horror film history.

A word of warning before you don those 3D glasses: If you’ve yet to catch these horror classics … SPOILER ALERT!

In House of Wax, the scenes in which a shadowy, cloaked killer pursues victims had viewers cringing when it seemed that the mysterious figure was among them.

For 1953’s It Came From Outer Space, Universal-International’s polarized glasses were put to best use when an alien mimicking the heroine (Barbara Rush) fired a pulsating weapon right at the audience.

C’mon, 1954’s The Creature from the Black Lagoon swimming right at the camera? 3D doesn’t get any better.

Andy Warhol resurrected 3D for his 1973 Flesh for Frankenstein, and director Paul Morrissey reveled in thrusting lots of bloody body parts right at us.

It was probably only natural that the slasher movie craze of the ‘80s would discover 3D with Part III of Friday the 13th (1982). This one’s all about the pitchforks, pokers, and machetes.

A year later, the best effect in Amityville 3-D was the corpse that leapt out of the basement well.

That same year, terror-seekers donned their disposable glasses again for Jaws 3-D, arguably the best of the ‘80s 3D thrillers, thanks to the shark’s climactic attack on a glass control room.

It may be only the last 10 minutes of Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) that are in 3D “Freddyvision,” but those 10 minutes include a wild trip through Freddy’s brain, complete with darting Krueger-headed snakes.

It took a remake — 2009’s My Bloody Valentine 3D — to make 3D profitable in the 21st century. This one may be the king of 3D gore. It’s hard to pick one favorite, but we’re going with the guy who gets pickaxed in the head from behind and his eye pops out.

Eli Roth entered the third dimension for 2010’s Piranha 3D. If you want to see hordes of prehistoric fish lunging from the screen, this one’s for you.

We have friends who would argue that shirtless David Tennant is the best 3D effect in 2011’s Fright Night remake, but most agree that it’s actually the floating embers from Charley’s burning house that capture the trophy.

Image of the Week: Phantom FX

Lon Chaney — who created his own look for the 1925 silent film adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera  —  proudly shows off his personal makeup kit before and after his transformation. Some audience members reportedly fainted upon the reveal of the Phantom’s face, which had been kept secret prior to the movie’s premiere.

SWAMP THING TRAILER, MARK HAMILL’S CHUCKY & MORE

Tiny Bites

  • Godzilla’s looking more magnificent than ever in a gorgeous new poster. But if you want to experience everyone’s favorite kaiju looming over you for real, you’ll have to check into this unique Tokyo hotel.
  • Lorraine Warren, whose paranormal investigations with her husband Ed inspired The Conjuring films, has died at 92.
  • Did you know there was a Halloween II that never happened? It was going to be set years after the original — and shot in 3D!
  • Capcom teased a remake of Resident Evil 3 with a series of puzzling tweets.
  • A critic wrote a fantastic, in-depth analysis of the amazing crash scene that helped make Near Dark a horror classic.
  • Heavy Metal singer/songwriter Glenn Danzig announced he’s finished the script for “a vampire Spaghetti-Western.”
  • DC Universe responded to fears that cutting the Swamp Thing series from 13 episodes to 10 meant the series was in trouble by releasing the show’s first trailer.
  • How Tim Burton’s visual aesthetic of “the sinister, the grotesque, the weird, the bloody, and the terrifying” evolved over the years.
  • Hear Mark Hamill’s creepy Chucky voice for the first time in a new Child’s Play trailer.
  • If you’re going through Shirley Jackson withdrawal now that the first season of The Haunting of Hill House is over, check out the first trailer for the upcoming movie adaptation of her terrifying classic We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
  • Catch up on your horror history with the 5 best foreign language horror films and 8 awesome silents every sci-fi and horror film fan should see.
  • Thanks to the reaction from test audiences, Escape Room was released with a less nihilist ending.
  • Horror fans are protesting after August Derleth Park — named after the Arkham House publisher who released H. P. Lovecraft’s first book — is renamed.