The world is a hellhole, so that usually means that horror is in a golden period. You can quantify the success of the horror genre in a variety of ways in 2023.

This year brought all sorts of questionably sticky treats to choose from. Softcore naughtiness and Lovecraftian horror? You got it! Alien invaders? They’re here! Killer dolls? Killing it.

So — let’s take a spooky trip down memory lane and look back at the best horror of 2023.

Suitable Flesh (Joe Lynch)

It’s no mean feat to try and capture the spirit of the legendary Stuart Gordon, who brought us Lovecraft adaptations such as Re-Animator and From Beyond. Joe Lynch manages just that whilst retaining his own style.

Suitable Flesh is down and dirty in the world of Lovecraft, with Heather Graham showing a natural affinity to the horror genre alongside stalwarts such as Barbara Crampton, and promising young things like Judah Lewis.

Horny body-swapping madness slathered in a deliciously skeezy 90s erotic thriller coating.

Huesera: The Bone Woman (Michelle Garza Cervera)

I can’t deny I roll my eyes when I see a horror movie doing the ”everyone thinks that I’m going crazy because of this supernatural entity haunting me” trope, but that’s mainly because there are, so many terrible examples of it. The top tier stuff just makes it more aggravating.

Huesera: The Bone Woman is one of those top-tier examples of it being done right. A woman’s pregnancy is seemingly haunted by an entity that terrorizes and manipulates her even after the child is born. Of course, it appears to the outside world that she is suffering from the realities of motherhood. Cervera ensures there’s reasonable doubt about the truth and isn’t afraid to dig under the skin of her protagonist and unnerve many a parent in the process.

No One Will Save You (Brian Duffield)

After being surprised by Brian Duffield’s superb splat-tastic romance movie Spontaneous, I was excited to read his next film, which was an alien invasion thriller with a home invasion spin. But No One Will Save You still managed to pull the rug out from under me with its tight and tense action.

Despite a wordless performance, Kaitlyn Dever commands the screen as a traumatized and isolated young woman battling against alien invaders that start out in a traditional grey bipedal form before chucking in some interesting new ones as the battle for survival goes on.

Saw X (Kevin Greutert)

Jigsaw and Spiral: From the Book of Saw were supposed to reinvigorate the Saw franchise by taking it further from the influence of Tobin Bell’s John Kramer. Instead, it falls to Bell to put the jumper cables to the series’ flesh with a prequel that goes back to the heady heights of those early days.

Saw X is a worthy new entry because it puts much more focus on character, fleshing out Jigsaw’s reasoning for his brutal justice with a more personal edge against a seemingly worthy adversary.

It’s like the villain version of Spider-Man 2, where there’s a glimmer of a life that could be for John Kramer before the world reminds him why it needs him (well, at least that’s how he sees it!)

Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor (Stephen Cognetti)

Now and then, a found-footage horror movie comes along and reminds me why I fell in love with the sub-genre. I genuinely did not believe the fourth entry in the Hell House LLC series would be one of them, but here we are.

Hell House LLC: The Carmichael Manor takes the action away from the Abbadon Hotel of previous films, which does refresh the formula to some degree, but really its greatest quality comes from taking things back to basics in building unease and dread.

M3GAN (Gerard Johnstone)

Chucky has the cynical, blood-splattered killer doll thing down to a tee, and Annabelle has the supernatural entity schtick going. So, where does M3GAN sit? It’s a rather bloodless film, with a checklist of overcooked modern tropes in its execution, but it’s on this list, so why?

Because it’s a really fun time and is fully aware of its limitations. M3GAN itself may feel like a cynical attempt to create a new horror icon, but it has worked because, visually speaking, she lives on the precipice of the uncanny valley that makes that effect so unsettling.

When Evil Lurks (Demián Rugna)

Demonic possession done differently. Rugna’s When Evil Lurks is a nasty piece of work that floods the screen with apocalyptic despair as it treats demons like a multipurpose disease, polluting the soil and the soul in equal measure.

When Evil Lurks doesn’t shy away from showing the devastating consequences of causing a deadly outbreak, nothing is off the table, and the demon may never be seen in physical form, but its malicious and manipulative intent is always on show.

Birth/Rebirth (Laura Moss)

There have been plenty of takes on the Frankenstein story, and Laura Moss achieves the admirable feat of recreating the gothic horror of the source material whilst feeling incredibly fresh in its modern womanhood-centered spin.

Marin Ireland is superbly cold, clinical, and antisocial as Dr. Rose Casper, a modern Dr. Frankenstein type, and Judy Reyes as nurse Celie Morales brings tragic obsession to the party as the unlikely pair team up to handle the reanimated body of a young girl.

Birth/Rebirth surprises with dark humor, heartbreaking tragedy, and abhorrent behavior as Rose and Celie push way beyond moral boundaries.

Godzilla: Minus One (Takashi Yamazaki)

While 2016’s Shin Godzilla made the radioactive lizard an abomination (in a good way!), it’s been quite some time since we got a pure angry creature from the sea Godzilla.

Enter Godzilla Minus One. Essentially another reboot of the Godzilla origin, but taking it back to before the gargantuan monster first waded from the ocean. Post-war Japan is in tatters in a variety of ways, and just as life is starting to return to some kind of normalcy when the mutated local legend Godzilla takes personal offence to people living in what it considers its territory.

And so Godzilla is a destructive force once more. Not friend to man, just generally annoyed man is in the way.

Infinity Pool (Brandon Cronenberg)

Brandon Cronenberg is really growing into his own skin (which feels like an apt description) and forging his own weirdo path as a director. He follows up surreal and violent bodyjacking in Possessor with a very different kind of body abuse in Infinity Pool.

There was no way a tale of two young couples meeting at a swanky resort was going to end well in a film that features a Cronenberg in the director’s chair, but yeah…Infinity Pool is a bit sadistic.

It’s helped on its way by two very different performances. Alexander Skarsgard exudes naivety and obliviousness in equal measure, while Mia Goth is menacingly manipulative and just a bit batshit.

Enys Men (Mark Jenkin)

Mark Jenkin’s Bait made for a striking audiovisual experiment, utilizing supposedly outdated and niche equipment to create an unsettling and intense tale of tensions in a cornish fishing village. It was abrasive and artful. Jenkin reteamed with many of that film’s cast to create Enys Men, an actual horror movie that doubled down on those qualities.

Enys Men is a low-fi folk horror that tells the story of a wildlife volunteer (Mary Woodvine) isolated on an uninhabited island off the British coast. Her secluded life appears to unravel in a strange dreamlike fashion.

It’s a film that I hadn’t even finished and knew would be the subject of divisive reviews. Enys Men is as experimental a horror film as you can get in the modern day. That comes the same year as the equally divisive and evasive Skinamarink gives some hope that horror can still be as strange, complex, experimental, and against the grain as this.

Brooklyn 45 (Ted Geoghan)

Being a chamber piece horror set in the aftermath of World War II means Brooklyn 45 could be accused of being little more than a fancy stage play being called a movie. However, its theatrical nature is what enhances it as an unorthodox ghost story.

A group of wartime pals, all of whom have personal grief and trauma from their time at war, reunite on a chilly December night in 1945 to support one of their number after the death of his wife. A cozy reunion becomes something more supernatural as the group’s dirty laundry is laid bare by literal ghosts of their past.

Brooklyn 45 features just the seven cast members, but all get to make an impact in a punchy, twisty-turny 90 minutes.

Evil Dead Rise (Lee Cronin)

Ten years had passed with an Evil Dead movie, and folks had started to come around to Fede Alvarez’s gore-soaked 2013 edition. So naturally, that vibe is what Sam Raimi brought back with director Lee Cronin taking the Deadite action to the city in Evil Dead Rise.

While it’s a bit disappointing just have a whole apartment block infested with Deadites, the fairly contained blood-splattered adventure we get does feel like a transference of the traditional Evil Dead setup. It largely works because of Alyssa Sutherland’s unhinged demonic performance.

Talk to Me (Danny & Michael Phillipou)

Arguably the breakout horror hit of the year. The Phillipou brothers’ fresh take on possession, curse movies, and general teenage tomfoolery is a fine example that old ideas can be refreshed in horror when done right.

The film’s mean streak propels it into unsettling territory, and the interpersonal drama that gets wrapped up in a possession gone wrong adds to the impact of their consequences.

Dark Harvest (David Slade)

I’m still not exactly sure how I feel about David Slade’s Dark Harvest. It has a really strange tone, feels like it was smushed together from several different interpretations, and it’s genuinely difficult to tell if some performances are meant to be bad as they appear.

And yet Dark Harvest’s story of small-town boys competing to beat the literal stuffing out of a supernatural scarecrow is dark, funny, and just the right kind of chaotic to make it stick in the mind. I genuinely would not be surprised to see this become a cult favorite of sorts in years to come.

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Final Destination creator Jeffrey Reddick will produce and star in the themed slasher movie New Fears Eve, which is currently in post-production. To celebrate the turn of the year, a New Fears Eve poster has been unveiled.

New Fears Eve Poster and Details

Reddick is joined by genre stalwarts Hannah Fierman (V/H/S), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), and Dave Sheridan (Scary Movie). It’s directed by P.J. Starks and Eric Huskisson (Volumes of Blood).

As the coming year approaches, three best friends reluctantly prepare for Hooper Industries’ annual New Year’s Eve bash. The clock ticks down, and the body count rises as a psychotic murderer known as The Doctor is on the loose.

This sadistic surgeon of death leaves the town of Owensboro covered in blood as local police and FBI are forced to navigate through a maze of bodies left in his wake. Unbeknownst to the three best friends, their mandatory party is about to turn deadly when the killer sets his sights on them. December 31 becomes a party to die for when Leslie, Brian, Moses, and their colleagues are trapped inside an inescapable building with a bloodthirsty madman hell-bent on carving his way to midnight.

New Fears Eve is set to be released digitally in 2024.

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The Korean horror thriller The Human Trap heads to Prime Video and other VOD streaming platforms in early January 2024.

The Human Trap Details and Release Date

The film, also known as A Trap, was first released in 2021, but didn’t make its way overseas until earlier this year.

Two young couples go to a camping site for a getaway. Little did they know the risk they were getting into.

Their idyllic vacation turns sour as the foursome gets forcibly taken to a makeshift medical lab where a deranged Christian doctor and his assistant plot disturbing medical experiments on the captive youths. Infused with pitch-black humor, The Human Trap unleashes waves of shocking violence as the terrified teens fight for their lives.

The Human Trap is directed by Lee Moon-young (Rainbow Goddess). It stars Kim Dong-ho, Byeol Kang, and Park Yeon-woo (Love is for Suckers).

The Human Trap will be released on VOD platforms on January 11, 2024.

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The wait for Toho Godzilla movies is relatively slow. In the last decade, the Western variant of the giant radioactive lizard has appeared in three films and a TV show with another movie on the near horizon. In that time, we’ll have had two Japanese offerings.

But that wait is clearly worth it because, well, look at Godzilla: Minus One.

The 70th anniversary of Godzilla wades into view in 2024 and Takashi Yamazaki’s movie encapsulates everything that made Godzilla such a long-lasting icon of monster movies. Godzilla is symbolic in nature, and sure, sometimes the symbol is ”this big lizard smacking about a big monkey could earn us a few bucks,” but at its best, it’s used as a weapon to self-flagellate and repent. An unstoppable monster.

Godzilla: Minus One is about the destructive nature of a mutant force, but its strength comes from the delicate position of a nation that played for the wrong side in a global war and had its civilian population suffer horrifically in the process. The message early on in the film is shame, anger, bitterness, and disillusion among those left behind. Who is to blame for what has happened? What should life be going forward?

A rebuilding of Japan of course, does occur, but the scars of war still burn in much of its population, and while still at its lowest ebb, along comes the physical manifestation consequence of atomic warfare. A giant lizard of legend made colossal by mankind’s meddling that sees Japan as a part of its stomping ground.

The build to Godzilla eventually making landfall in Minus One puts a dreadful urgency into the air. There’s a very insistent message that the monster will obliterate a fragile country if left unchecked and so some poor schlubs get the unenviable task of destroying the beast with tools barely fit for vanquishing a shark. Those scenes carry the kind of terror reminiscent of Jaws’ shark hunting scenes quite fittingly, but here we already know a bigger boat stands about as much chance as the small wooden one the ragtag group of haunted military survivors and wannabes have.

When Godzilla does reach land, the impact is chaotic and devastating. So far, so Godzilla, right? But putting us back at the human level of the creature’s destruction shows the weight of every step and swipe of the tail on the cityscape. There’s no malice or meaning behind Godzilla’s actions, it’s simply defending its territory.

But it’s when Godzilla responds to being attacked that the real horror sets in. The charging sequence brings a tingling sense of dreadful anticipation that delivers in a jaw-dropping moment of disaster and Godzilla’s thermonuclear breath effectively vaporizes a massive chunk of the city, and we get the full effect of it from the ground.

The aftermath sees our somewhat fortunate protagonist Koichi surviving the blast, but faced with fresh devastation and frustration about his own defincies. His hopelessness is defined by a futile guttural scream at Godzilla across a landscape of rubble, corpses, and thick black rain.

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Dan Curtis’ 1976 horror mystery movie Burnt Offerings is getting a special edition Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber.

Burnt Offerings Special Edition Blu-ray Details

Evil Has a New Home! Step inside a vacation house of horror in this terrifying thriller that does for summer homes what Jaws did for a dip in the surf.

Karen Black (The Pyx), Oliver Reed (The Brood) and Bette Davis (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?), star in this riveting haunted-house chiller that delivers hidden terrors mounting creepily as the film builds to a climax of pulverizing fright. Marian (Black) and Ben (Reed) find it hard to believe that for only $900 they’ve rented a sprawling country mansion for the entire summer.

But as they settle into their isolated estate with their son (Lee Montgomery, Ben) and Ben’s aunt (Davis), they find themselves surrounded by an evil, hypnotic living presence that feeds on torture, fear, and murder. The stellar cast includes Burgess Meredith (The Sentinel), Eileen Heckart (The Bad Seed), Dub Taylor (Gator), and Anthony James (High Plains Drifter). Co-written, produced, and directed by horror legend Dan Curtis (The Night Strangler, Trilogy of Terror).

Special Features:
• Audio Commentary with Director/Co-Writer/Producer Dan Curtis, Actress Karen Black, and Co-Screenwriter William F. Nolan
• Audio Commentary by Film Historian Richard Harland Smith
• Interview with Actor Anthony James
• Interview with Screenwriter William F. Nolan
• Interview with Actor Lee Montgomery
• TRAILERS FROM HELL with Steve Senski
• Image Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer
• Optional English Subtitles

The Burnt Offerings Special edition Blu-ray will be released on February 6, 2024.

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Loop Track, a mind-bending survival horror movie released earlier this month deals with the unknown of the New Zealand wilderness. The film, backed by Dark Sky Films, was shot in the New Zealand bush, and tells a twisty-turny tale of isolation and paranoia.

Director Thomas Sainsbury helped Dark Sky end ”Loop Track Week” by discussing the wildlife that could be in the lesser-charted regions of New Zealand.

A four-day journey turns into a fight for survival. This is a psychological thriller about Ian, who wants to get as far away from humanity as possible, into the New Zealand bush. Some other individuals get attached to him. And he has the feeling that they are being followed. Is that real, though?

The trailer gives you a taste of Loop Track’s spiral into paranoia.

Loop Track stars director Thomas Sainsbury alongside Hayden J. Weal (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey), Tawanda Manyimo (Ghost in the Shell, The Meg), Noa Campbell (The Umbrella Man), and Bianca Seinafo.

You can watch Loop Track on digital platforms now.

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Not only was it a fine year for horror movies, but it was also punctuated by a variety of intriguing, interesting, enticing, and downright mesmerizing performances in them.

From scenery-chewing villains to heartbreaking characters of tragedy, here are some of the best horror movie performances of 2023.

Alyssa Sutherland (Ellie in Evil Dead Rise)

The Evil Dead franchise is notable for two things. Ash Williams and Deadites. If one isn’t there, then it sure as hell needs a hefty showing from the other.

Evil Dead Rise features no Ash, so it leans heavily on its Deadite action, and Alyssa Sutherland performs like, well…a woman possessed.

Sutherland’s ”maggot mommy” is a mixture of Evil Dead Deadite old and new. Mischievous wise-cracking is there to a degree but with the nasty streak of Fede Alvarez’s 2013 movie.

Mary Woodvine (The Volunteer in Enys Men)

Enys Men is a difficult watch. Its discordant sound, grainy visuals, and repetitious story beats all serve a worthy purpose, but I can see how people might struggle with it.

Anchoring the increasingly swimmy tale of a remote lighthouse is Mary Woodvine. Her protagonist, known only as The Volunteer, serves as a vessel for our feelings on the strange turn of events depicted on screen whilst going on a narrative voyage of her own.

A lot of her performance has to come from facial expressions, and Woodvine conveys the dismay, worry, and horror of the story beautifully.

Heather Graham (Dr. Elizabeth Derby in Suitable Flesh)

Heather Graham’s expressive face just works wonders with Suitable Flesh. Joe Lynch’s cosmic horror madness works so well because Graham is at the heart of its body-swapping tale and conveys each of her personalities with fluid ease and no small amount of glee.

More Heather Graham in horror movies, please.

Larry Fessenden (Lt Col. Clive Hockstatter in Brooklyn 45)

I really enjoyed Ted Geogahn’s World War II chamber piece because its ensemble of characters pulled the tale in all sorts of fascinating directions, but its catalyst is undoubtedly Lt. Col. Clive Hockstatter played by genre stalwart Larry Fessenden.

Fessenden’s manic, heartbroken turn as a grieving army man sets the supernatural events of Brooklyn 45 in motion, and he continues to play a disturbing part of proceedings throughout.

Mia Goth (Gabi Bauer in Infinity Pool)

Mia Goth is a supreme weirdo, and we should be oh-so grateful she does horror movies. Case in point, her turn as Gabi Bauer in David Cronenberg’s unsettling and surreal latest Infinity Pool.

Goth’s Gabi is enchanting and alluring in a slightly dangerous way at first, but as we delve deeper into the film’s story, she reveals her sadistic, manipulative ways and her frankly deranged glee in tormenting Alexander Skarsgaard.

After the 1-2 punch of X and Pearl, Goth is on her way to becoming a genre icon.

Sophia Wilde (Mia in Talk to Me)

Talk to Me was one of the surprise hits of the year, thrusting its creators, Danny and Michael Phillipou, into the limelight. Its unique take on possession sees it used as a drug. And like any drug, the consequences can be devastating. Which Talk to Me emphatically shows us.

Central to that is the tortured protagonist Mia, played by Sophia Wilde. She enters the story already grieving, and when the possession game appears to offer some closure, she carelessly pursues it, with a horrendous impact on the lives of those around her.

Wilde’s complicated character is believable and sympathetic, and yet that doesn’t stop us from watching in abject horror as she goes down a self-destructive path.

Justin Long (Mayor Henry Waters in It’s a Wonderful Knife)

This was a toss-up between Long and his younger co-stars Jane Widdop and Jess McLeod who delivered a warm-hearted Christmas romance story in the bitter cold of a slasher movie. But Long perhaps best encapsulates what director Tyler MacIntyre and writer Michael Kennedy were going for.

Long’s almost cartoonishly evil Mayor is very much a throwback to the kind of boo-hiss baddie of a certain Frank Capra Christmas classic but with the more obvious murderous edge. Justin Long’s likable qualities convert well to playing utter pricks, and Mayor Henry Waters is a fine example of that.

Kaitlyn Dever (Brynn in No One Will Save You)

Brian Duffield’s follow-up to the superb Spontaneous blends alien invasion with home invasion to tremendous effect. It’s near-wordless, but that doesn’t stop its star from shining bright.

Kaitlyn Dever’s performance as the troubled recluse Brynn relies heavily on movement and expression to convey her character’s somewhat self-imposed isolation. Brynn’s struggles, both internal and external, come across on screen without a word being said, and Dever communicates them with a natural ability.

Joaquin Phoenix (Beau Wassermann in Beau is Afraid)

Ari Aster’s Beau is Afraid hops genres constantly, sometimes to its detriment, but Beau himself is living in a personal horror movie, and as such, Joaquin Phoenix’s performance as the titular character is a notable horror performance.

That’s most readily apparent in the opening, where Aster and Phoenix put on a masterclass in ratcheting up anxiety-ridden uncomfortable tension. Beau utters every word like he believes the world will punish him for it.

Phoenix absolutely delivers on the title’s sentiment because Beau is afraid, always, in so many different and uncomfortably relatable ways.

Judy Reyes (Celie Morales in Birth/Rebirth)

A female-centric modern-day spin on the Frankenstein story, Birth/Rebirth focuses on womanhood and the ability to bring life into this world and the tragedy found within that. Both leads in Laura Moss’ superb horror represent that in quite different ways, to begin with, but common ground unites them in a horrifyingly twisted vision.

Judy Reyes may don the scrubs once more, but her character Celie Morales couldn’t be further removed from that sitcom variant. It’s a tough call to pick between the performances of Reyes and Marin Ireland in Birth/Rebirth, but the tragedy at the center of Celie’s story and the lengths she ends up going to in trying to reverse it make for a heartbreaking and shocking journey.

Amie Donald/Jenna Davis (M3GAN in M3GAN)

Both Amie Donald and Jenna Davis need mentioning in the performance of murderous robot M3GAN because both the physical and vocal performance make the character what it is.

The deadpan line delivery of Davis is as deliciously cutting as the unnerving physical delivery of Donald is deadly.Sure, you could say the film’s always angling to make M3GAN a bonafide modern horror icon, but the attempt wouldn’t have been successful without the two actors involved.

Russell Crowe (Father Gabriele Amorth in The Pope’s Exorcist)

The Pope’s Exorcist is a terrible movie. It’s the most cliche-ridden exorcism/demonic possession nonsense you’ll see wrapped into a single film.

But here comes Father Gabriele Amorth, riding in on his scooter and chugging caffeinated beverages whilst kicking demon arse with a tongue sharper than a butcher’s knife. Russell Crowe drags the film kicking and screaming into relevance with a wonderfully outlandish performance.

It’s the kind of role that feels like it should somehow allow Crowe to make a dozen more of these films. All technically terrible, but used as the perfect scaffolding for Amorth to strut his stuff again and again.

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I can’t say I expected much out of The Nun II. The first film did very well for itself at the box office and made the character a new horror icon of sorts, but as a horror film, its content struggled to match the lofty vision of its Gothic European setting and atmosphere.

The Nun is a lavish-looking ghost house for the most part, and that represents a frustrating missed opportunity considering the high bar of the film it was born from (The Conjuring 2). The Nun II is possibly even more frustrating because it contains one superbly-set up scene that shows up the rest of the film’s rather humdrum nature.

I am, of course, talking about the newsstand sequence. It is a largely practical affair that you can’t help but admire for the effort that goes into it. Pages and imagery turn at speed to eventually reveal the devilish figure of the demonic Nun Valak. It’s no surprise it was hyped up before the film’s release, it’s easily the best-crafted sequence in the film, and that’s a big problem for the rest of The Nun II.

The Nun II suffers for two things in 2023. That sequence, and the existence of The Pope’s Exorcist. The rest of the film isn’t terrible by any means, just by the numbers and predictable. The latter is true of The Pope’s Exorcist, which combined with a generally awful level of plot predictability, should be a death sentence, but that film has a strong central figure in Russell Crowe, who tears through scenery like Godzilla through cities. His consistent presence ensures it’s not a total wash. It’s an entertaining disaster.

The Nun II has one scene of strength that almost feels disconnected from the rest of it. The film’s false confidence in the strength of its characters and their relationships from the first film don’t help it away from the scares, and that also impacts the sense of peril that is needed to make the scares work. Lord knows it tries to up the ante on peril in the story by setting much of the movie in a school, but a lack of teeth is clearly visible when it comes to what happens when Valak comes up against kids.

By the time we reach the theatrical finale, The Nun II has gone through every garden-variety horror scare (ooh, there’s The Nun! being the general theme behind them). Even in that standout scene, that’s essentially what it is dressed up as something fancier, but that’s what the whole film should be aiming for.

The Nun II never had to be this groundbreaking horror movie sequel. It just needed more craft and consistency in how it delivered its horror. The old favorites can still feel fresh when the structure is there to back them up.

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As we sail towards the end of 2023, it’s an excellent time to remind ourselves of what could have been with a big horror movie that underperformed for various reasons.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter brought us a new Dracula adaptation and a memorable-looking Drac in the shape of Javier Botet. Still, it could have featured a wider world of Gothic horror.

A New Form of Horror

SYFY Wire spoke to producer Bradley J. Fischer about the film, and he revealed the film had a tantalizing cameo and a Dracula transformation that were dropped.

“We went through a lot of different approaches to the story, but nothing that was wildly different than the movie that we ended up with,” said Fischer. “We actually had one ending for quite a while. The scene in the tavern was Clemens [Corey Hawkins] being approached by a strange, shadowy dude, who starts talking to him, seems to have some knowledge of the experiences that he went through, and introduces himself as Van Helsing. Then we kind of left it there.”

In addition to that potential teasing cameo, Fischer and makeup artist Göran Lundström revealed one of Dracula’s transformations would have taken on a Lupine transformation not in the finished film. Dracula would originally have had five forms, but test audiences were left confused by that.

“[Director] Andre [Øvredal] didn’t want a hairy werewolf; he wanted a werewolf who’s lost his hair because he’s not well,” explains the makeup whiz. “This would’ve been the second stage … [this] really weak-looking, gaunt kind of werewolf thing and very asymmetrical and deformed.”

“People were very confused about that as an additional form that Dracula took,” recalled Fischer. “So we had to make a decision to listen to the audience and make sure that that confusion didn’t get the better of everyone.”

The Last Voyage of the Demeter focuses on the chapter from the Dracula novel where the undead legend is secured in the hold of a ship as he sails for England. The crew, unaware of what they are carrying, end up in a grisly faceoff with a rather animalistic vampire.

André Øvredal, who directed Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and The Autopsy of Jane Doe, saw his adaptation endure a tough time, as myriad issues have scuttled this particular ship. It’s a shame considering how well-received Javier Botet’s Dracula has been.

After a poor box office showing, middling reviews (we liked it), and takeover issues preventing its release in many overseas territories, there might be a shred of hope for the movie’s chances with a healthy home showing, even if it does come less than three weeks after its release in theaters.

Alongside Javier Botet are Corey Hawkins (In the Heights) Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones), and David Dastmalchian (Suicide Squad).

The Last Voyage of the Demeter is available to buy or rent now.

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Valve’s portable PC platform Steam Deck has enjoyed another good year, with a new OLED model and cheaper entry point contributing to a steady increase in popularity.

Throughout the year, Valve has been letting players know which titles are most popular on Steam Deck each month, with some consistent titles cropping up over the year.

Now we’ve reached the end of 2023, Valve has collated the most-played titles on Steam Deck for 2023 and put them in three ranking categories.

In the Platinum rank for the most played titles of all, small-scale hits like Vampire Survivors and Dave the Diver made an impact alongside big hitters such as Baldur’s Gate 3 and Grand Theft Auto 5. Half-Life also entered the Platinum club after Valve gave the 1998 classic a Steam Deck overhaul for its 25th anniversary.

The Gold tier contains the likes of Street Fighter 6, Stardew Valley, and Counter Strike 2, while the Silver tier features PlayStation titles God of War and The Last of Us Part 1 alongside the surprise multiplayer hit Lethal Company.

The list only includes games Valve has given verified or playable status to for Steam Deck, so there are certain omissions, but you can view all three complete tiers below.

Most Played Steam Deck Games of 2023

Platinum

• Cyberpunk 2077
• Vampire Survivors
• Baldur’s Gate 3
• Grand Theft Auto 5
• Dave the Diver
• Starfield
• Half-Life 1
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Resident Evil 4
• Elden Ring

Gold

• Stardew Valley
• Street Fighter 6
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• DREDGE
• Hades
• Sea of Stars
• Counter Strike 2
• Halls of Torment
• Risk of Rain Returns
• Dead Cells
• Diablo 4
• Brotato

Silver

• The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
• Overwatch 2
• Cult of the Lamb
• God of War
• Fallout 4
• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition
• Coral Island
• The Last of Us Part 1
• Lethal Company
• Octopath Traveler 2
• Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection Volume 1
• Remnant 2
• Hi-Fi Rush
• Star Ocean The Second Story R
• Slay the Spire
• The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
• Marvel’s Midnight Suns
• Sons of the Forest
• HoloCure – Save the Fans!
• Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered
• Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition
• Monster Hunter: World
• Persona 5 Royal
• No Man’s Sky
• NBA 2K23

The post Valve Reveals the Most-Played Steam Deck Games for 2023 appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

London’s Natural History Museum has used the Doctor Who 60th-anniversary celebrations as an excuse to give fourteen newly-discovered species of wasp a genus inspired by a classic Doctor Who villain.

Wasp Name Gest Doctor Who Fans Buzzing

The Dalek nationi genus is indeed named after the deadly alien race known as the Daleks. The museum’s scientific associate, John Noyes, was a childhood fan of the long-running sci-fi show and said it was ”a bit of fun” getting to name the species after the show’s villains.

This particular genus was among 619 species of wasp described by the museum across over 700 research papers this year and 815 species overall.

Doctor Who recently celebrated its 60th anniversary with three specials that saw David Tennant return to the show. The new lead, Ncuti Gatwa, also appeared in the final special, and he then made his full debut in the Doctor Who Christmas Special on Christmas Day.

Since returning to screens in 2005, The Doctor has been played by Christopher Eccleston, Tennant, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, Jodie Whittaker, and now Ncuti Gatwa.

The latest season of Doctor Who starring Gatwa is due to premiere on BBC and Disney Plus in May of 2024.

The post Doctor Who Villain’s Name Given to New Wasp Species appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

Fresh off revealing he thought Tim Burton’s Batman sucked, Batman Returns screenwriter Daniel Waters divulged how a potential Catwoman spinoff could have gone in two very different directions.

Speaking during a screening of Batman Returns at the Egyptian Theater earlier this month, Waters revealed he and Burton had distinct personal visions for the spinoff that never came to fruition.

“He wanted to do an $18 million black and white movie, like the original Cat People, of Selina just lowkey living in a small town,” Waters said of Burton’s pitch. “And I wanted to make a Batman movie where the metaphor was about ‘Batman.’ So I had her move to a Los Angeles version of Gotham City, and it’s run by three asshole superheroes. It was ‘The Boys’ before ‘The Boys.’ But he got exhausted reading my script.”

Waters recently discussed how the original script for Batman Returns had multiple digs at the first film and the moneymaking power of the Bat Brand. The film was originally set to open with a Batman logo, only to pan out and reveal an in-universe store selling Batman merchandise, a joke at the expense of how big of a merchandising juggernaut the original Batman film was.

The idea, while commended by star Michael Keaton, was ultimately nixed. Waters said of the decision, “[Michael] Keaton said, ‘This is very clever. Cut it,’” 

The post Batman Returns Screenwriter Reveals There Were 2 Very Different Plans for Catwoman Spin-off appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

George Romero and Stephen King’s E.C. Comics-inspired horror anthology classic Creepshow will be getting a Walmart-exclusive 4k SteelBook release in February 2024.

The 1982 movie directed by Romero and written by King brings five tales of terror with a cast that includes Hal Holbrook, Leslie Nielsen, Ed Harris, Ted Danson, Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Savini, and Tom Atkins.

The movie spawned two sequels, a television series, and will soon become a video game.

The Creepshow 4k SteelBook comes from Shout! Factory, and has all the features of the original 4K Collector’s edition.

Creepshow 4k SteelBook will be released on February 26, 2024. It’s currently listed as sold out on Walmart’s website, but it’s best to keep an eye on availability there and in local outlets in the next few weeks.

Bonus Features for Creepshow 4K SteelBook

DISC ONE (4K UHD):

• NEW 2023 4K Scan Of The Original Camera Negative
• In Dolby Vision (HDR 10 Compatible)
• Audio: NEW Dolby Atmos Track, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
• Audio Commentary With Director George A. Romero And Special Make-Up Effects Creator Tom Savini
• Audio Commentary With Director Of Photography Michael Gornick
• Audio Commentary With Composer/First Assistant Director John Harrison And Construction Coordinator Ed Fountain
• Audio Interviews With Director Of Photography Michael Gornick, Actor John Amplas, Property Master Bruce Alan Miller, And Make-up Effects Assistant Darryl Ferrucci
• Mondo Macabre – A Look At Mondo’s Various Creepshow Posters With Mondo Co-Founder Rob Jones And Mondo Gallery Events Planner Josh Curry
• Collecting Creepshow – A Look At Some Of The Original Props And Collectibles From The Film With Collector Dave Burian
• The Colors Of Creepshow – A Look At The Restoration of Creepshow With Director Of Photography Michael Gornick
• Into The Mix – An Interview With Sound Re-recordist Chris Jenkins
• Still Galleries – Poster And Lobby Cards, Movie Posters, Color Stills, Special Effects Makeup, Behind The Scenes

DISC TWO (BLU-RAY):

• NEW 2023 4K Scan Of The Original Camera Negative
• Audio: NEW Dolby Atmos Track, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
• Audio Commentary With Director George A. Romero And Special Make-Up Effects Creator Tom Savini
• Audio Commentary With Director Of Photography Michael Gornick
• Audio Commentary With Composer/First Assistant Director John Harrison And Construction Coordinator Ed Fountain
• Audio Interviews With Director Of Photography Michael Gornick, Actor John Amplas, Property Master Bruce Alan Miller, And Make-up Effects Assistant Darryl Ferrucci
• Terror And The Three Rivers – A Round Table Discussion On The Making Of Creepshow With John Amplas, Tom Atkins, Tom Savini, And Marty Schiff
• The Comic Book Look – An Interview With Costume Designer Barbara Anderson
• Ripped From The Pages – An Interview With Animator Rick Catizone
• Horror’s Hallowed Grounds – A Look At The Original Film Locations Hosted By Sean Clark
• Tom Savini’s Behind-The-Scenes Footage
• Deleted Scenes
• Theatrical Trailers – English And Spanish
• TV Spot
• Radio Spots

The post Creepshow 4K SteelBook Release Arriving in February appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

While there were larger, more obvious horror games that grabbed the attention of gamers this year, the genre’s health is rudest in the smaller spaces.

Smaller-scale horror games are the building blocks for the genre’s future, and this year has given us such an interesting mixture of horror in all its shapes and sizes.

So here is my list of notable indie and small-scale horror games of 2023 for ComingSoon.

Killer Frequency (Team 17)

Killer Frequency takes the simulator approach to building a unique flavor of horror. You play a washed-up DJ in the 1980s, slumming it a small-time radio station, and you get the unbridled joy of working the night shift. That does allow you to actually take calls, swap records out, play with mixers, play ads and sound effects, and go for the high score in throwing balled-up pieces of paper into the waste paper bin across the studio.

But that alone wouldn’t be much of a horror. An almost mythical killer from the town’s past has seemingly emerged on this night,a nd only you can guide callers out of their personal sticky situations with the killer by finding the right materials around the station to keep them in the land of the living.

Killer Frequency takes place in real-time during these calls, and each caller could potentially die if you don’t help them in time or help them in the right way. It makes for a refreshing intensity and pressure, but also makes good use of your limited environment as a subtle puzzle box.

Stasis: Bone Totem (The Brotherhood)

This throwback to isometric point-and-click adventures was one I took a while to finally play, but its aquatic horror themes were a great hook once I got there.

Mac and Charlie, a husband and wife duo, who make their living scouring the ocean for salvage. But, when they stumble upon an abandoned oil rig in the Pacific Ocean, they uncover a horrific secret that Cayne Corporation will do anything to keep hidden.

Stasis: Bone Totem is an audiovisual feast. The grungey, dripping locations feel far more expansive than a screenshot might suggest. The unraveling of a great mystery under the ocean also manages to grow in its horrifying nature the deeper Mac and Charlie go.

Lethal Company (Zeekerss)

Chances are you’ve probably seen or heard about Lethal Company in recent weeks. Since its Early Access launch in October, this humble take on the co-op extraction shooter has provided players with all manner of wacky, hilarious, and frightening anecdotes.

You and your crewmates are sent to abandoned, industrialized moons to salvage goods for your company. While there, you need to amass enough goods to meet the required quota and thus be allowed back home.

Sounds easy enough until you realize just how many strange and sinister monsters like to hang out on these moons. Each has its own unique ruleset that, once learned, will make them easier to handle. But Lethal Company never makes it easy for you and your team.

Homebody (Game Grumps)

You might suspiciously eye a horror game from the people behind Dream Daddy and a comedic YouTube channel, but you really shouldn’t because Homebody is an intriguing time loop slasher game reminiscent of classic Clock Tower.

A young woman named Emily meets with her friends at a remote house to view a meteor shower and generally reconnect after various issues caused them to grow apart. But as night falls, a masked killer arrives and slays the group.

That is until Emily finds herself alive and back at the start of the evening. As time keeps looping and people keep dying, Emily, who is the only one who seems to be aware of the loop, must uncover the puzzling secrets of the house to break the loop and stop the killer.

Amanda the Adventurer (MANGLEDmaw Games)

One of the lovely things about itch.io, the site that gives indie game makers a space to publish their games, is that it allows for some fascinating short-form experiments that can potentially turn into fully-fledged experiences. Amanda the Adventurer is a great example of this.

Having inherited their Aunt Kate’s house, Riley Park starts exploring what the reclusive woman left behind. In the attic, Riley is surprised to find a stack of VHS tapes next to an old TV set. The tapes seem to be episodes of an early 2000’s era children’s cartoon they have never seen before. Intrigued, Riley pops the first tape into the VCR.

The television show that follows is crude and may well cause parents with a disdain for Cocomelon to shudder just looking at it, but that’s not where the horror lies. There’s something sinister about the show, and it could well have a connection to where Riley stands in the present day.

The Outlast Trials (RedBarrels)

I will make no secret of my distaste for RedBarrels’ Outlast and its sequel. But The Outlast Trials shows those games were mere stepping stones on the way to the developer’s true potential.

The Outlast Trials puts a multiplayer spin on things by making you a somewhat unwilling participant in a government brainwashing program that sees you complete various horrific tests. The only way to win is to survive the terrors you must endure and be broken enough to become a pliable husk of humanity. Cheerful stuff!

Even in Early Access, The Outlast Trials is one of the strongest horror multiplayer experiences around. The nervous intensity of survival in the trials is bad enough when you’re riding solo, but with others, the worst of humanity can be teased out and change your fate in mere seconds.

My Friendly Neighborhood (John & Evan Szymanski)

On the surface, My Friendly Neighborhood would appear to be another eye-rolling attempt at mascot horror in the wake of Five Nights at Freddy’s monumental success. Its offbeat spin of a Seasame Street style show gone wrong does little to dissuade the casual observer of that.

But the reality is that My Friendly Neighborhood is much more of a classic survival horror experience with a demented and inventive sense of humor in its characters, environments, and most of all, in its weaponry. The surprise is that it’s actually a refreshing take on both survival horror and mascot horrror.

The Szymanski’s take the ball of Saturday morning kids show gone rogue and run with it to the point it distorts the reality the game exists in. From those bonkers weapons to world design that amplifies the vibrant and unusual nature of the game’s story.

El Paso, Elsewhere (Strange Scaffold)

The premise of El Paso, Elsewhere feels so typically early 2000s PC gaming that I can almost feel the sting of my eyes from another unadvisable all-nighter on Quake 3.

It’s not like Quake though; it’s instead like a more cosmic and supernatural take on Remedy’s Max Payne with a hardboiled detective slaying werewolves in slow-mo within the confines of a reality-shifting motel.

But it’s what El Paso, Elsewhere does with that setup that makes it so special. It’s inventive, odd, and, as advertised, full of more slow-motion dives than you would think it is humanly possible to fit into a single video game.

Varney Lake (LCB Game Studio)

Last year, I fell in love with LCB Game Studio’s homage to pulp novels and 80s text adventures Mothmen 1966. Its simplified, yet striking color palette, intriguing spin on B-movie sci-fi horror, and general presentation made it a surprise hit for me.

Varney Lake arguably improves on that experience in every way. A tale of innocence lost as three kids enjoying their Summer in 1950s America encounter a vampire that will change their lives forever.

The story has an air of Stephen King to it, especially with the back and forth between the kids’ fateful Summer and the aftermath in their adult lives. It definitely retains the pulp feel of its predecessor, but there’s a bit more of a tragic human connection to Varney Lake that makes it stick in the brain.

Dredge (Black Salt Games)

The term Lovecraftian gets thrown around a lot for a certain kind of horror game, but very few actually translate the feeling of Lovecraft‘s work and instead simply copy the notes. Dredge is one of those that captures the unsettling dread and feeling of cosmic insignificance. And it’s basically just an open-world fishing sim.

In Dredge, you become the local fisherman for an archipelago with a mysterious past. Sketchy locals, hushed warnings about the dangers of the sea at night, and you pulling up your line and exclaiming ”what in the hell is that thing?” are signs all is not right with this place.

The better you get at Dredge, the more disturbing and horror-led it becomes. The price of increased freedom on the waves is coming face to face with the terrors of the deep. Effective horror is offset by the sometimes tranquil scouring of the ocean on your dinky trawler.

Incident at Grove Lake (ToothandClaw)

Itch.io is home to many fantastic short horror experiences. And when I say short, I mean somewhere between tea and lunch break short. Dan McGrath’s Incident at Grove Lake clocks in at about 25 minutes and manages to show off the style and atmosphere that another recent, and certainly more hyped, alien abduction game (Greyhill Incident) failed to conjure up once.

Part found footage, part PSX-style first-person adventure, Incident at Grove Lake taps into the 90s alien paranoia of Fire in the Sky and The X-Files by giving us various perspectives of the titular incident from past and present, and then layers on a dressing of reality with the use of real public radio shows concerning alien conspiracy.

That last part helps create a strong ending to the game, with the frenzied chattering of a caller convinced the government is out to get them echoes what we’ve seen in chilling fashion.

Slay the Princess (Black Tabby Games)

You’re on a path in the woods, and at the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a Princess. You’re here to slay her. If you don’t, it will be the end of the world.

She will do everything in her power to stop you. She’ll charm, and she’ll lie, and she’ll promise you the world, and if you let her, she’ll kill you a dozen times over. You can’t let that happen. Don’t forget, the fate of the world rests on your shoulders.

That’s the hook for Slay the Princess. It’s a game that teases and tricks the player and draws you into a hand-drawn world of cosmic horrors. To say more would tarnish the experience.

The post Best of 2023: Indie Horror Games Shone Throughout the Year appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

UK fans of James Cameron’s The Abyss will have to import a copy of the film in 4K if they want it, as a battle over the censoring of a scene has seen its release there canceled.

UK Fans Staring Into The Abyss Once More

The scene in question features a rat submerged in breathing fluid. Censors asked for it to be cut despite the rat being unharmed in real life.

According to a source for Digital Bits, Disney was apparently happy to, but Lightstorm subsequently vetoed it. With that impasse in place, the film’s scheduled release was dropped, and once more, the UK will struggle to get a hold of The Abyss as easily.

The upside for UK fans is that if they do want to bring over a US copy, it will, like all 4K films, be region-free.

The Abyss was supposed to release alongside fellow Cameron classics True Lies and Aliens. All three remain available to order for North American audiences. However, the early reception of the 4K transfer of True Lies in digital form saw criticism for spoiling the look of the film.

The Abyss increasingly feels like a movie close to Cameron’s heart as an oil rig crew is sent to search for a lost submarine and encounters something otherworldly 25,000 feet below the waves.

The Abyss is still due to be released on 4K UHD disc on March 12, 2024.

The post The Abyss 4K Release Shelved in UK Over Refusal to Cut a Scene appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise is a fine addition to the Evil Dead canon, but I must admit to being a touch disappointed it didn’t use its setting in a different way.

Much of Evil Dead Rise’s runtime takes place in a dilapidated, near-empty apartment complex, with a Deadite outbreak being unleashed after an unholy vinyl gets played by a curious youth. To be fair to the lad, he probably didn’t factor in the demonic destruction of his family would come from listening to an LP, despite what so many 70s-era conservatives might have told us.

It’s genuinely refreshing to take the big-screen Evil Dead adventures to a different location given that 60% of them have taken place in a cabin in the woods. The concept of Deadites in an apartment complex is enticing, and for me, it instantly brought to mind Lamberto Bava’s Demons 2.

In Demons 2, the demonic infestation of the first film returns through a television set (the first movie summoning them from a movie theater screen), and absolute carnage ensues as tenants of a 10-story high-rise apartment building have to contend with the toothy, sharp-clawed monsters that inhabit anyone they draw blood from.

The setup allows for multiple perspectives and set pieces for various tenants and ultimately begins to draw them together as the number of survivors dwindles. It’s Demons by way of David Cronenberg’s Shivers. Its plot is inarguably a bit of nonsense, but it delivers on the promise of Demons going nuts in an apartment building.

So, with that in mind, Evil Dead Rise felt like a bit of a letdown. In fairness, it’s not on Lee Cronin that I had that expectation, and the film sets up plenty of good reasons for the building being underpopulated, but the pre-release chatter didn’t exactly set the levels for the just how many Deadites gone wild in a high-rise we’d be getting.

Naturally, that left me with a feeling of what could have been. I’m not saying you need hundreds of people and Deadites to justify using an apartment building as a setup, but I do feel it’s missing the point of using such a location to house an Evil Dead story.

Technically, Evil Dead in the city, even restricted to one apartment building, should be upping the ante in the Deadite department. We know what small-scale Deadite action is, and Army of Darkness went for a whole other scale. Something in the middle would have made Evil Dead Rise truly refreshing.

The post The Missed Opportunity of Evil Dead Rise appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

Another success story to add to Godzilla: Minus One‘s growing list as it has passed the worldwide box office of previous series record setter Shin Godzilla.

Godzilla: Minus One is King of the Box Office Monsters

Godzilla: Minus One is now the most successful Toho Godzilla movie in a franchise that has spanned almost 70 years and nearly 40 movies.

Despite initially being positioned for a brief theatrical run in the West, the film’s surprise opening numbers and subsequent word of mouth tail have seen it extend its lifespan to the end of 2023, and eclipse Shin Godzilla’s global haul of $77.9 million by hitting the $78 million mark.

When it made its domestic debut, it earned the title of the most successful opening for a live-action Japanese film ever. It’s since gone on to become the sixth-highest-performing foreign live-action movie of all time in the US, surpassing the likes of Pan’s Labryinth in the process.

With a modest (if morally complicated) budget of around $15 million, Godzilla: Minus One’s critical and commercial success is undeniably more impressive than that of its Western counterparts.

In Godzilla: Minus One, post-war Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster. A ragtag group of war survivors and citizens are all that stand between Japan’s salvation or annihilation.

Godzilla Minus One is written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki, who previously worked on the visual effects for Shin Godzilla. It stars Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando, and Kuranosuke Sasaki. It marks the first new Toho Godzilla film since 2016’s Shin Godzilla.

The post Godzilla: Minus One Storms Past Shin Godzilla’s Worldwide Box Office appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

Jean-Claude Van Damme‘s 1989 action movie Kickboxer will receive a Walmart-exclusive SteelBook Blu-ray release in early 2024.

Kickboxer SteelBook Blu-ray Details

Accompanied by his brother Kurt (Van Damme), American kickboxing champion Eric Sloane (Dennis Alexio), arrives in Thailand to defeat the Eastern warriors at their own sport. His opponent: ruthless fighter and Thai champion, Tong Po. Tong not only defeats Eric, he paralyzes him for life. Crazed with anger, Kurt vows revenge.

Kickboxer is directed by David Worth (cinematographer on Bloodsport) and Mark DiSalle (The Perfect Weapon). Alongside Van Damme and Alexio, the movie also stars Dennis Chan Kwok-San, Michel Qissi (Bloodsport, Kickboxer 2), Rochelle Ashana, and Richard Foo.

The film went on to spawn several sequels and was rebooted in 2016 with Kickboxer: Vengeance which saw Van Damme return to the franchise alongside Dave Bautista, Alain Moussi, and several prominent UFC and MMA stars.

You can pre-order the Kickboxer SteelBook Blu-ray from Walmart’s website now, and it will be released on March 12, 2024.

The post Kickboxer SteelBook Blu-ray Release Hits Early 2024 for Jean-Claude Van Damme Classic appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

In a summer where Barbie battled Robert Oppenheimer, and it was somehow a serious thing to say out loud, the big dumb box office gem of 2023 was lurking below the surface, chomping away at the fallout.

Meg 2: The Trench lacked narrative teeth and swam against the current of logic, but hot damn, if it wasn’t a gleefully willing slab of monster-sized nonsense that may not have done much feeding in US box office waters, but overseas it ate up the competition.

I can totally understand the repulsion from some quarters, I myself was wholly disheartened by how lethargic and toothless 2018’s The Meg was in comparison to Steve Alten’s gripping novel. Meg 2: The Trench is even further removed from the science-heavy chatter of its own source material, but it does at least deliver on multi-creature madness and a literal jumping of the shark, which feels oh-so intentional by the film’s abrasive director Ben Wheatley.

If you want plot, then the bones of one are absolutely there. In fact, they are bones assembled from the skeletons of both The Meg and The Trench novels. From the opening dino-chomping scene taken from the first book to the smarmy billionaire plotting nefarious undersea shenanigans. They are just bones, though, because entire cool moments are left on the cutting room floor (giant prehistoric reptiles replaced by smaller land-dwelling ones, for example), but Wheatley clearly only cares about shoving lots of monster action and Jason Statham ass-whoopings onscreen, and I genuinely do not blame him for taking that approach. In fact, that’s exactly why I found it so entertaining.

The use of Statham here, compared to the previous film, is a great example of embracing your casting and just rolling with it. With the greatest of respect to Mr. Statham, who I think is a marvelous action star, buying him as anyone that isn’t beating seven shades out of goons is very difficult, so by keeping things a bit too strait-laced in The Meg, it prevented Statham from truly embracing the absurdity of his character.

Now he’s like a living Lucas Lee movie, and you just look at him doing tricks on a jet ski as he evades Megaladons or somehow surviving deadly depth pressure, and you barely think about him being anything other than Jason Statham wearing the coat of a crumbling middle-aged shark-obsessive.

Meg 2 really comes into its own in the last 45 minutes. It’s pure cinematic stupidity, and it 100% knows it. Statham has plot armor so thick it’s probably how he physically survived the ocean depths, and the creature nonsense escalates to the point the film clearly struggles to decide which monsters to follow and for how long. It becomes the cinematic equivalent of a sugar-hopped child trying to pick between a shelf of brand-new games.

And I’m trying to say, please give me more loud, hyperactive, and knowingly stupid blockbuster movies at the summer box office.

The post Best of 2023: A Salute to Meg 2, The Big Dumb Blockbuster That Could appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.

The Fred Savage family comedy Little Monsters is getting a Walmart-exclusive SteelBook Blu-ray release in early 2024.

The SteelBook edition is part of the Vestron Video Collector’s Series and features audio commentary with experts and interviews with cast members including Howie Mandel (Gremlins) and Fred Savage (The Princess Bride).

A young boy (Ben Savage) is scared of the monster under his bed. He asks his 6th-grade brother (Fred Savage) to swap rooms for the night as a bet that the monster really exists. Soon, the brother becomes friends with the monster (Howie Mandel) and discovers a whole new world of fun and games under his bed where the main attraction is pulling pranks on kids and other monsters.

You can pre-order the SteelBook at Walmart’s site now. It will be released on March 12, 2024.

The post Little Monsters SteelBook Blu-ray Release Coming Early 2024 appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.