Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2017 i SFX

Was King Kong the world’s first blockbuster icon? Sure, by the time he took up residence the top of the Empire State Building in 1933 Frankenstein, Dracula and the Mummy had already hit the big screen, but Kong existed on a different scale, literally and figuratively – a star who transcended movies to become absorbed into popular culture. So this month we celebrate the great ape’s return in style: as well as speaking to Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson and director Jordan Vogt-Roberts about the rebooted Kong: Skull Island (p44), we look back at the 20 greatest city-trampling monsters in genre history (p52). On a smaller scale (because everything’s on a smaller scale than Kong, right?), we chat with the director of The Lego Batman Movie about having…

How would you describe Prevenge? I think it’s like a little dysfunctional gem. It’s got an amazing message behind it. It’s quite deep and profound in places. Although it doesn’t take itself too seriously, it’s about a woman having a nervous breakdown. It’s really sad. So I’d just call it a cheeky little gem. Alice compared it more to Jacob’s Ladder, but I’ve not seen that for 20 years. To me, it was a bit of a Travis Bickle-Taxi Driver revenge thriller. You play the midwife. How would you describe her? She’s like the Clarence character in It’s A Wonderful Life. The voice of conscience, the angel, the presence that Ruth goes to for some clarity. She’s the only one she doesn’t murder! Yes, my character brings a bit of…

It’s based on an unused movie script 1 Seven years ago David Odell, Annette Duffy and Craig Pearce wrote a movie follow-up to Jim Henson’s 1982 classic titled The Power Of The Dark Crystal. While the movie sequel remains stuck in development limbo, writer Simon Spurrier took the trio’s script and added his own touches, enhancing the “quest elements” of the story, for this 12-issue comic run. “There’s a kind of narrative backbone that could be truncated or expanded as the creative whim takes me,” he says. “It’s a joy to go, ‘This is what needs to happen,’ and then I can put my own spin on some of those things but more importantly there’s a whole bunch of other stuff that can just be flights of fancy.” Jen and…

Bloody prints on a space station floor hint something nefarious is afoot as screams echo down a dark corridor. Speaking of, there’s the titular ship, a colony vessel bound for a lush planet on the other side of the known galaxy. This shot of an airborne spore suggests the latter, especially as the spore makes short work of slipping into a crew member’s ear. We’re definitely in Alien territory as the captain of Covenant stumbles across a Xeno egg and appears to fall victim to a facehugger. This’ll be the guy doing the screaming – probably because his spine’s spurting blood. Yes, this time we’ve got “back-bursters”. Here the crew will meet David and, presumably, Dr Shaw (Noomi Rapace). The world looks too hospitable to be Aliens’ LV-426. You sure…

What’s your protagonist like? Clay Cooper is loyal, dependable, a touch sardonic, and selflessly brave. Although his “mission” is to help rescue his best friend’s daughter, his true goal is to return home to his wife and child, then never go anywhere again. Like if Samwise Gamgee was a stone-cold killer. Which part of the world-building did you most enjoy? The setting’s an allegory for the golden age of classic rock, so the best part was listening to the epic, rambling albums of that era’s greatest bands and drawing inspiration from them. What’s the secret of a good battle scene? Rather than over-describing every cut and feint, get the reader into the character’s head. Not only does this afford direct insight into the battle as it unfolds, but it makes…

The original 1933 fantasy epic is part fairytale, part cautionary fable – and the quintessential giant monster movie, inspiring countless storytellers, some of whom have created their own versions of the Eighth Wonder of the World. Dino De Laurentiis put the great ape in a metaphor for corporate greed in 1976, while Peter Jackson brought him back to his Depression-era roots – albeit with cutting-edge digital effects – in his 2005 reimagining. Now Kong finds himself at the centre of the shared universe Legendary Entertainment began with 2015’s Godzilla, building towards the creature-on-creature slamdown of 2020’s Godzilla Vs Kong. But director Jordan Vogt-Roberts tells SFX he’s careful not to get ahead of himself with Kong: Skull Island, a film that gives audiences the biggest version of the beloved beast yet…

Body parts in a kitchen blender. Eviscerated intestines piled on the bathroom floor. A butchered torso dumped in the tub. Welcome to Santa Clarita Diet, an everyday tale of suburban cannibalism and quite possibly the world’s first true sick-com. “Netflix are like the greatest neglectful parent you’ve ever had,” laughs star Timothy Olyphant, clearly still amazed by the show’s unchecked spree of bad taste. As affable, weed-smoking Californian realtor Joel Hammond he’s plunged into a bloody and murderous new lifestyle when his wife Sheila (Drew Barrymore) discovers a sudden, uncontrollable craving for human flesh. There, naturally, goes the neighbourhood. And a not inconsiderable number of neighbours. “Netflix said, ‘Here you go, kids – here’s some money and you guys go and make your little series and let us know when…

2016 was a looong year for fans of The Walking Dead. The show entered its darkest period yet: the era of Negan. After running afoul of the long-teased Big Bad (played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan) in the show’s season six cliffhanger finale, Rick Grimes and his friends lost two of their own – Abraham and Glenn – to the brute’s barbed-wire-bedecked baseball bat, Lucille, in season seven’s premiere, while fan favourite Daryl was made his prisoner for the entire first half of the season. Negan put the survivors to work for him, forcing them to surrender their food, weapons, ammo – even mattresses – while continuing to torture them both physically and psychologically. Ultimately, Rick and co reunited with Daryl and vowed to fight the sadistic leader of the Saviors.…

Sometimes, it seems best to keep things secret. When she began writing her new novel, Carve The Mark, Veronica Roth didn’t even tell her publisher that she was on to something until comparatively late in the day. “I’ve gotten good at shutting out the outside world, I think,” she says. “You have to because if you spend all your time thinking about how people are going to react to a story, then you really don’t take any risks.” You can understand why Roth was so reluctant to share. Her dystopian Divergent YA trilogy, of which more later, represents one of those rags-to-riches publishing success stories that authors dream about but which occur only rarely. The first volume, Divergent, was published in 2011, a year after Roth left Northwestern University. The…

released OUT NOW! 2016 | 15 | Blu-ray/DVD/download Director Colm McCarthy Cast Sennia Nanua, Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine, Glenn Close, Anamaria Marinca, Dominique Tipper It never ceases to amaze how a well-worn template can be revitalised by putting a couple of clever twists on it. Hitting on the right changes to make is the tricky bit, of course – along with doing justice to the way all their implications unfold. Lucifer creator Mike Carey makes it look like child’s play with this post-apocalyptic zombie drama. The film has its roots in a short story Carey penned for a 2012 anthology co-edited by Charlaine Harris. Realising its potential, Carey opened it out into both a novel and a screenplay. Twist one: here, the zombifying infection is fungal – inspired by a…

Richard Edwards Editor RAVES My festive TV highlight was Inside No 9’s “The Devil Of Christmas” – a brilliant ’70s pastiche with a killer twist. Also enjoyed the Doctor Who special: fun, the right level of sweet, and not too Christmassy. Enjoyed Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – not Adams for purists, but lots of fun. ian berriman rev iews ed itor RAVES Had a cool t ime at Twickenham Studios watching the filming of a particularly SFXy episode of Black Mirror. Decided to rewatch all of Buffy. Loving it so far! Getting through season one is the tricky bit… This guy made a synthesiser out of a toy Dalek: http://bit.ly/ Daleksynth! I want one! russell lewin pr oduction ed itor RAVES My favourite sci-fi flick of 2016 ended up…

Marvel may be dominating the superhero market at the moment, but if you’re after something a little grungier, look no further than Netflix original film iBoy. With its unassuming teen hero and gritty London setting, it puts a tough-talking spin on superstories. “We’ve taken that concept of a young man in the city with powers down a darker, more psychological route,” says 21-year-old star Bill Milner (right), who plays phonetapping champion Tom. “We really question what it’s like for someone so young to be in such a powerful position.” Adapted from Kevin Brooks’ 2010 novel by director Adam Randall, iBoy sees Tom acquire the ability to telepathically access the internet – and hence any tech-y device in the world – when fragments of his phone get lodged in his brain…

Hyde and seek! JEKYLL Get set for yet another take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale of split personality. Although this take, technically, is another take on Steven Moffat’s take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s take. See how easily these things multiply? It’s enough to make you stop swigging mysterious beakers of chemicals. Zombieland’s Ruben Fleischer will direct Jekyll for Lionsgate, adapting Moffat’s 2007 BBC One series of the same name. That version starred James Nesbitt as a modern-day descendant of Henry Jekyll, unlocking his raging inner id. Marvel star Chris Evans will play the title role this time around – and if anyone can convince us he’s two entirely distinct personalities then it’s the man who gave big-screen life to both noble Captain America and the cocky Human Torch. We’d…

Magic in books can be a dangerous thing. The greatest risk of introducing magic into a story is that it comes without natural caveats. It is up to the writer to give it shape, law, limitation. Used poorly, magic becomes a kind of cheat, a carte blanche used to make anything possible, and in so doing undermine everything, from the stakes to the fabric of the world they’ve made. For what is a world without rules, without some kind of inherent order? And what is magic if not the opposite, the lawless, the chaotic, the unbound? Even assuming a set of stalwart rules, a well-thought-out world, and a naturalistic approach, there’s still the hurdle of magic itself, the fact that its own potential is rather boundless. Yes, magic in books…

Doctor Who 2008 Doctor Who doesn’t usually go in for giant, city-destroying monsters. There’s Kroll, of course. And the Weeping Angel Statue of Liberty. But for proper “stomping on your house, squashing your family of five” terror, you need the CyberKing: the Cybermen’s huge, Iron Giant-style bipedal robot, usually used to lead planetary invasions, upgrading populations en masse. In 2008 Christmas special “The Next Doctor” it rises out of the Thames to rampage all over Victorian London. Just like the history books told us. The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring 2001 A growl in the darkness; a flicker of light, growing brighter and brighter. We feel the Balrog before we see it; we feel its creeping approach, its ability to scatter an army of Orcs out…

few days before SFX’s chat with Zhang Yimou, director of fantasy epic The Great Wall, we’re invited to watch 16 minutes of footage at Universal’s office in London. It’s a small screening room, private and empty – save for us and an unsmiling security guard, standing at the back to monitor piracy. The Great Wall of China was built over 2,000 years ago by Qin Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of China, in order to protect his borders from nomadic hordes in the north; now made up of countries like Mongolia and Siberia. Yimou’s film puts forward a different theory, however: that the Great Wall of China was built to withstand monsters; specifically the Taotie, huge, green mythical beasts of pure greed, who attack the wall every 60 years. Our footage…

rom Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court to the Hot Tub Time Machine films, marooning characters from one era in another, usually more primitive one has been a popular staple of science fiction, fantasy and comedy. In 1992, The Comic Strip spoof Detectives On The Edge Of A Nervous Breakdown went the other way: “Shouting George of The Weeney” – a spoof of womanising, fist-throwing, alcohol-fuelled Flying Squad Inspector Jack Regan (John Thaw) from The Sweeney, 1975-78) – was brought out of retirement, the show relishing stranding him in a 1990s London lacking derelict warehouses, car chases and shouting. Eight years later, three TV professionals descended on Blackpool for a Sweeney-esque, boozy weekend of chip suppers to brainstorm ideas for new television dramas. “Tony Jordan, Ashley Pharaoh and…

released OUT NOW! 2016 | 15 | SVOD Creator Frank Spotnitz Cast Alexa Davalos, Rupert Evans, Rufus Sewell, Luke Kleintank Amazon Delving further into the misery of a ’60s America carved up between the Nazis and the Japanese following an Axis victory in World War II, season two of this Philip K Dick-inspired show sees practically all the main characters take a step further towards the dark side – even the villains. This has the odd, but intriguing, effect of making season one’s rather bland heroes way more interesting and the baddies more sympathetic. You almost feel dirty rooting for Rufus Sewell’s sadistic Nazi officer when he starts taking decisions that go against his regime’s ideals, while the revolutionaries prove to be as ruthless and heartless as the forces they’re…

released OUT NOW! Reviewed on XO Also on PS4, PC, Mobile Publisher Telltale Games videogame Kids, they say, change your world. That rule applies in Telltale’s bleak universe, too. As disgraced baseball star Javier García, the rapidly spreading viral outbreak forces you to shift priorities fast and shoulder new burdens just as quickly, making you responsible for two young lives. With our setting shifted to Virginia and the introduction of a cast of original characters, A New Frontier is a fresh start, a jumping-on point for those who’ve yet to experience Telltale’s carousel of emotional pain. The one constant in this eversurprising world is Clementine. Clem’s fate is intertwined with that of Javier, and you actually spend more time playing as him than as her. His story begins with the…

THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES AUTHOR TALKS US THROUGH HER PERSONAL FAVOURITES It’s really hard to say as it changes from time to time. I grew up viewing movies as serious art, loving foreign directors and great American directors – Fellini, Antonioni, Truffaut, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, and so forth and so on. But Forbidden Planet is an all-time favourite, that’s for sure. And I also love This Island Earth. These are really old movies, but absolute classics. Favourite SF/fantasy TV? Actually, I love a lot of what is happening now. I have only admiration for Game Of Thrones, and I very much enjoy some of the new series that are out at the moment that involve artificial intelligence. I’m fascinated by the idea of the sensitive and morally…

With 2000 AD Monthly one of the few comics she could find in her native Johannesburg, Lauren Beukes grew up reading the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic. Three decades later, The Shining Girls author and writing partner Dale Halvorsen have penned a seven-page story featuring Johnny Alpha’s bloodsucking fellow SD Agent, Durham Red, for 2000 AD’s 40th Birthday issue, which is drawn by long-time Strontium Dog artist Carlos Ezquerra. “I love Durham Red’s moral ambiguity,” Beukes tells Red Alert. “2000 AD always had interesting nuanced politics, and Strontium Dog always felt like a perfect metaphor for the craziness of growing up under apartheid. I love the banter between her and Johnny and the sexual tension and the complexity of their relationship.” With Halvorsen describing it as “a heist tale”, “The Judas Strain” plays to…

“Science fiction is responsible for some of the world’s most iconic film, music, literature and art,” says Swiss historian and writer Patrick Gyger, explaining why he’s curating an ambitious, treat-packed, three-month sci-fi season at the Barbican this summer celebrating the finest genre work of the past 200 years. A festival-style exhibition, Into The Unknown: A Journey Through Science Fiction kicks off in June and has something special for book fans, movie nuts and comic lovers alike. “From 19th century cabinets of curiosities to cyberpunk, Into The Unknown takes a fresh and, at times, subversive look at the new territories, lost worlds, cosmic possibilities and virtual universes that traverse the broadest parameters of human imagination and yet are often instantly relatable,” says Gyger. The exhibition will feature work that’s never been…

Don’t speak After detouring into fantasy with Warcraft, Duncan Jones returns to sci-fi with his Netflix original film Mute – and these are the first pics from the semi-sequel to Moon, showing off Paul Rudd as a wisecracking American surgeon and Alexander Skarsgård as a mute attempting to track down his girlfriend Naadirah (Seyneb Saleh). Described as a sci-fi noir, the film’s near-future Berlin definitely has a Blade Runner vibe to it. Mute launches on Netflix later this year. Beast buy Just in case your horde of Harry Potter memorabilia’s starting to look a little dated, Bloomsbury is releasing a brand new collectable version of Newt Scamander’s Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. Illustrated by Tomislav Tomic, it’s got a snazzy cover by Jonny Duddle and a shiny new…

this month’s communications monitor RICHARD EDWARDS, EDITOR Star Wars was the dominant force in the mailsphere this month – inevitably you wanted to tell us what you thought about the wonderful Rogue One, and then there was your reaction to the incredibly sad news about the death of Carrie Fisher. You also loved/hated (delete as appropriate) the Doctor Who Christmas special, had issues with DC’s recent TV crossover episodes, and recognised Elidor. We love to hear from you, so drop us a line using one of the contact devices listed opposite, and your wisdom could appear right here. Mark Howe, Facebook I’ve had to adjust my top three. Rogue One now just sneaks into third after Empire and Star Wars. Whereas The Force Awakens was a new Star Wars film…

The Complete Book Of Swords by Fred Saberhagen is, on its surface, a story about the Twelve Swords of Power, a set of weapons crafted by the god Vulcan with the help of one mortal servant. The swords are forged from sky metal, and are imbued with the qualities of man: their fears and hopes, their joys and anger, qualities passed in varying degrees to each of the weapons when tempered in their sweat and blood. When Vulcan gives his faithful servant one of the swords, Townsaver, a sword that can stand against any enemy, it begins a winding journey in which each of the swords’ abilities are revealed. Swords of unimaginable power – indeed, swords that could topple kingdoms – now roam the land. There is Farslayer, a sword…

When Luke Skywalker first catches sight of her, she’s a hologram. “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi,” she implores, nothing more than a flickering electric angel. “You’re my only hope.” It’s a line so famous you almost don’t hear the words anymore. She’s just as unreal, just as unearthly, in the closing seconds of Rogue One. She turns to camera, serene and supernaturally young, the decades smoothed away by the ILM render farm. But there’s something amiss with this freaky digital madonna, something missing from this premature ghost. A spark, a spirit. Something fearless, messy, hilarious, haywire and human. Everything that gave life to Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan. Everything that was Carrie Fisher. She was born into fame, the daughter of film star Debbie Reynolds and pop idol Eddie Fisher. “I’m…

released 24 February 12A | 103 minutes Director Zhang Yimou Cast Matt Damon, Tian Jing, Willem Dafoe, Pedro Pascal, Andy Lau, Eddie Peng “East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet” said one Rudyard Kipling. Watching The Great Wall, you are tempted to agree with the old imperialist-minded author. The initial controversy surrounding this epic monster mash regarded Matt Damon playing an American mercenary who somehow finds himself slap-bang in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty (so some time between 960 and 1279). However, the problems with this beautiful-looking – but largely humourless and surprisingly stern – adventure opus go far beyond the presence of three Caucasian “heroes” (Damon is joined by Game Of Thrones star Pedro Pascal as his partner in theft and…