Innehållsförteckning för December 2017 från SFX

RICHARD EDWARDS EDITOR RAVES It’s probably a good thing that JJ’s back for Star Wars: Episode IX – I loved The Force Awakens, but I hope he resists the urge to do a Star Trek Into Darknesslike rehash of a better movie. RANTS Having James Cameron and Linda Hamilton back is good, but I can’t get excited about a new Terminator. There hasn’t been a great one for 25 years! IAN BERRIMAN REVIEWS EDITOR RAVES Happy 50th, The Prisoner! Currently reading Alex Cox’s new book I Am (Not) A Number, and looking forward to watching documentary In My Mind. Delighted they’ve reissued the classic Horror Top Trumps sets of the ’70s: www.winningmoves.co.uk/retro Enjoying anthology show Electric Dreams. JONATHAN COATES ART EDITOR RAVES Loving the ’80s He-Man meets Flash Gordon vibe…

As a man who despises taking human life, how does Morgan feel about the Saviors? In season eight we are continuing Morgan’s journey, but the backdrop has changed dramatically. The backdrop now is war. Whether you like it or not, not just Morgan, but a lot of the characters are forced to pick a side and to pick a battle. That’s what we’re going to see with Morgan in season eight. We’re going to see his trials and tribulations in trying to stay true to his philosophy, trying to argue his corner, but also being forced to pick a side and choosing to do certain things that he may not want to do in order to protect the people that he has come to know and love. Has the fact…

SCI-FACT! The 2007 Dirk Gently radio adaptation stars Billy Boyd – Elijah Wood’s Lord Of The Rings co-star – as Dirk’s sidekick. When showrunner Robert Coopertells SFX that in this season of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, “Some crazy shit goes down,” we’re inclined to believe him. Writer Max Landis’s adaptation of Douglas Adams’s novels – anchored by actors Samuel Barnett as the titular gumshoe and Elijah Wood as his hapless sidekick, Todd – pushed absurdist TV to the limit in its first year. Now in season two, the show welcomes Alan Tudyk as Blackwing-recruited bounty hunter Mr Priest, War For The Planet Of The Apes’ Aleks Paunovic as a royal enforcer, Reaper’s Tyler Labine as small-town sheriffSherlock Hobbs, and Agents Of SHIELD’s John Hannah as an evil wizard known…

celebrating iconic sci-fistars Michael Landes was the fresh-faced Jimmy Olsen in the first season of Lois & Clark back in 1993, but lost the role for subsequent seasons because the producers thought he looked too much like leading man Dean Cain. “Surely they knew that when they cast me!” he points out. He’s since starred in Special Unit 2, Final Destination 2, British sitcoms Miranda and Love Soup, and Sky1’s Hooten And The Lady. Would you like to play the role of Jimmy Olsen again? As me now? Would I like to play an older Jimmy Olsen? That would be cool – we’ve never seen that. But yes I loved that part, I would be open to it. What would Jimmy be doing now? Well if he was a photojournalist...…

One of American cinema’s mostfamiliar faces, Harry Dean Stanton, passed away on 15 September, aged 91. Though never a leading man (partly through choice), over a career spanning 63 years he built up a formidable CV by following advice given to him by Jack Nicholson: “He told me not to do anything – just let the wardrobe do the acting.” Stanton brought his laconic, laid-back style to several significant roles in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. In Alien he helped ground the story’s fantastical events in a relatable world as blue-collar cynic/ man-of-few-words Brett. Stanton was also key to the cult appeal of Alex Cox’s Repo Man, playing Bud, the mentor teaching Emilio Estevez’s kid the rules of the car repossession business: dress like a detective, take speed, always be packing. He…

Date20 October 2017- 28 February 2018 locationBritish Library, London The boy wizardturned 20 this year – or at least his books did – and what better way to keep the celebrations going than by visiting the British Library’s latest magical exhibit? Harry Potter: A History Of Magic is kicking offa five-month stint at the Library’s PACCAR Gallery in October, with never-beforeseen exhibits getting dusted offfor the very first time. There’ll be rare books, manuscripts and magical objects from the British Library’s collection, as well as original drafts and drawings by JK Rowling and illustrator Jim Kay, plus a huge 16th-century Ripley Scroll that tells you everything you need to know about creating your own Philosopher’s Stone. Tickets are available now. When booking, you’ll have to select a timeslot – expect…

Not since Harry Potter headedtowards his final showdown with Lord Voldemort has there been such a ballyhoo surrounding a new fantasy book. On Thursday 19 October, La Belle Sauvage, the first volume of Philip Pullman’s The Book Of Dust trilogy, will be available to purchase from bookstores. Building the sense of anticipation, British publishers Penguin Random House and David Fickling have only gradually revealed information about a series that’s being described as an “equel”, rather than a prequel or sequel, to Pullman’s hugely successful and much-loved His Dark Materials trilogy. So what do we know about Pullman’s return to the parallel Britain of Lyra Belacqua? Firstly, while the books will certainly feature Lyra, Pullman has a new hero. He’s Malcolm Polstead, an 11-year-old who lives with his parents at the…

THIS MONTH’S COMMUNICATIONS MONITOR This year’s Game Of Thronesflashed by in a blur of seven episodes, but that was still plenty of time for you to form plenty of opinions about it. There’s also chat about spoilers, review scores and the demise of Channel 5 as a sci-fipowerhouse. This month’s Star Letter writer, Larry Conway, will receive a copy of new Warhammer 40,000 novel Ghost Warrior: Rise Of The Ynnari from our chums at Black Library. If you’ve got a burning sci-fior fantasy issue to get offyour chest, don’t forget to write to us – details on the page opposite. #GAME OF THRONES SEASON SEVEN Iain Aitken, Facebook One of the most exciting and upsetting seasons yet. I thought they’d never top “The Battle Of The Bastards”. But they did,…

Celebrating classic SF & fantasy Novels Whenever Neal Stephensonis the subject of discussion, chances are that Anathemwill not be the first book to come up. Indeed, it may not even be the third or fourth, behind Snow Crash, Cyptonomicon and the sprawling trilogy comprising the Baroque Cycle. Though for me it is his masterwork, I have long since accepted that it is a novel destined never to be his most widely read or influential, ironically because of the very things that commend it. Anathem is, in every particular, one of the biggest books you will ever read. SF as a genre is replete with lengthy and epic stories, with the expanse necessary to depict true vastness in space and of time. But few books have the intellectual scope and audacity…

Big hair, big beats, big guns... The ’80s weren’t just about Margaret Thatcher and Duran Duran. They were about Sigourney Weaver and James Cameron, whip-snapping archaeologists and razor-fingered bogeymen, homesick aliens and time-warping DeLoreans. As Stranger Things reignites nostalgia for that dazzling decade it’s time to reveal your faves from a true golden age of cinema… 50 A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET Wes Craven’s pseudo-slasher is a bad dream of razor-sharp ideas, cool teens (hi, Johnny) and trippy death scenes. And, of course, Robert Englund in the role of a lifetime. 49 POLTER GEIST “Stay away from the light, Carol Anne!” An inventive spook story that’s difficult to beat for PG chills. Zelda Rubinstein steals every scene as the sassy Texan psychic. 48 WILLOW An ILM-infused update of The Hobbit.…

How do you feel about the fact a Dutchman – director Paul Verhoeven – interpreted your view of 1980s America? Coming from Amsterdam, which has been a global crossroads since the 18th century, the mix of culture, race, ethnicity and gender politics were all very forward in Paul’s mind. There is a scene in RoboCop, in the police locker room, where women are changing with men and there is this genderless quality which is very liberal Dutch. Ironically, Verhoeven has mentioned that ultra-Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger was considered for a role... I don’t think Arnold had the clout, even in 1987, to insert narrative choices into the script. I think it would have been more in the sense of the look [laughs]. For me, you didn’t want a star in that…

“When you’re 11 or 12 is when movies are the most potent, the most powerful and the most magical. We grew up in the early ’90s, really, so we were seeing a lot of the ’90s movies theatrically and then an equal part of our lives was watching movies on VHS that we would rent from our local independent video store. The movies that we were seeing at home made more of an impression on us, and I think that had to do with the stories they were telling and what they were about. They were about people who we related to who seemed very much like us or our families – we grew up in North Carolina, so it normally felt like our town where these stories were set…

face to face with the biggest stars Mention the name Seth MacFarlane and most people think of the creator of Family Guy, or maybe the voice of cuddly-butfoul- mouthed Ted. A few might even think of him as the guy who revitalised Carl Sagan’s Cosmos: A Spacetime Odysseyin 2014. One thing’s certain: no one immediately thinks “starship captain”. He aims to change that in his new series, The Orville, a comedydrama set in the distant future. Conceived and written by MacFarlane, the show also casts him as Planetary Union Captain Ed Mercer. In the pilot we meet a despondent Ed, derailed by a wrecked marriage that’s ruined his ambitions to captain his own exploratory ship. But then he’s given command of the modest USS Orville, piloted by his BFF– and…

How has Barry changed since he’s been in the Speed Force? He’s more or less been left on his own to just kind of reflect. He’s been experiencing his entire life from start to finish, again and again and again. So when he comes out, everything’s a little jumbled. But he’s had a bit of an awakening. We’re gonna see Barry get back to his old optimistic self. Does he have less emotional baggage? It will be the more fun Barry Allen. But more mature than we’ve ever seen him. He’s owned up to the mistakes he made last year. He’s been able to let go of the loss of Nora and Henry that he was never really able to let go of. And we’re gonna see a lighter Barry…

How does Ragnarok shake up the series? We changed the locations. We got out of Asgard. The tones of the characters have shifted a lot. I love that, because it felt not so familiar. It kept us on our toes, and I think it’ll do the same for the audience. How are you finding Thor’s short hair? It’s less time in hair and makeup! The look changes, and then the attitude changes. I prefer [Ragnarok] for the change of pace and change of look. What does Taika bring to the MCU? A lot of directors would come in and be smothered, whereas there is a fearlessness to what he does. He goes, “Yeah, let’s just throw it out there and see what sticks.” You have to let go in a big way,…

This is your third MCU film. What keeps you coming back? I have a really good time. Marvel does a great job of letting directors bring their ideas, vision and style to these movies so they can be wildly creative and unique. No two are the same. How did you find Hulk’s voice? Almost everything about the Hulk starts with who the Hulk is to me. When we are working in the Volume motion capture studio we are always conscious of who the Hulk is. His size, his weight and mass, make me feel like he sounds a certain way. We play around a lot and his voice came out of those factors. How has Banner been affected by his time inside the Hulk? The way I imagined it, Banner’s…

Get sci-finews, reviews and features at gamesradar.com/sfx A View To Overkill RELEASED OUT NOW! 15 | 141 minutes Director Matthew Vaughn Cast Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Channing Tatum, Julianne Moore, Halle Berry Sequels are often touted asbigger and better than the films that preceded them. Budgets are boosted, more famous names can be coaxed into sharing the screen with the established cast, and there’s the temptation to ramp up the set-pieces. So it is with Matthew Vaughn’s first stab at a follow-up (we’re not counting Kick-Ass 2, as he only produced it), which takes what largely worked (and a lot of what didn’t) about Kingsman: The Secret Service, and subsequently dials everything up to an extraordinary degree. If you enjoyed the streettough- turned-spy stylings of Taron Egerton last…

House Of Pain released OUT NOW! 18 | 121 minutes Director Darren Aronofsky Cast Jennifer Lawrence, Ed Harris, Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer The new film from DarrenAronofsky opens on a couple who live in a beautiful house. The wife, Grace (Jennifer Lawrence), strives to create an idyll while her poet husband, Eli (Javier Bardem), suffers from writer’s block. One day their gentle monotony is interrupted by a strange doctor (Ed Harris) and his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer), who, once inside the house, are unwilling to leave. Playing upon claustrophobia and marital distrust, Mother! feels indebted to the early films of Roman Polanski, in particular Repulsion and Rosemary’s Baby. This first half of the film is a masterpiece in tension – an agonising slow build where the newcomers worm their way into…

RELEASED 3 November 12A | 99 minutes Director Michael Almereyda Cast Lois Smith, Jon Hamm, Geena Davis, Tim Robbins If you could have aconversation with your deceased lover, would you want to? That question plays out literally in this soapy sci-fi, as the titular pensioner interacts with Walter, a holographic “Prime” version of her dead husband (Jon Hamm at his most coolly hermetic). A walking, talking replica that learns through its interactions, Walter at first appears to provide Marjorie (Lois Smith) with some comfort, but is this actually a case of grief, interrupted? Based on Jordan Harrison’s stage play and largely sidestepping the potential horror of that scenario, Marjorie Prime asks big questions about memory, loss and love, but doesn’t ever attempt an answer. Smith, who played Marjorie twice on…

Get sci-finews, reviews and features at gamesradar.com/sfx Gods Of War released OUT NOW! 2017 | 12A | Blu-ray (3D, 4K, standard)/ DVD/download Director Patty Jenkins Cast Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, David Thewlis Remember when everyone thought female-led superhero movies were doomed to failure? Or when the idea of hiring a woman to direct a comic-book adaptation was met with sceptical teeth-sucking? Alright, maybe those sexist attitudes aren’t entirely a thing of the past. But Wonder Woman’s massive success ought to provide more than enough ammunition to shoot them down: its US box office saw it take a flying leap over Deadpool and Spider-Man to become the highestgrossing superhero origin movie ever; worldwide, it has grossed over £600 million. Financial success wouldn’t mean a lot…

RELEASED OUT NOW! 1995 | 18 | Blu-ray Director Kathryn Bigelow Cast Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore Blu-Ray debut Remember wheneveryone was paranoid about the year 2000 plunging the world into hell? This Kathryn Bigelow-directed, James Cameron-scripted slice of pre-millennial angst provides a snapshot of mid-’90s concerns (racial tension in LA, police violence, the idea that sex can kill you) and bolts them onto a noir tale based around tech that records memories. It’s the final days of the 20th century when ex-cop and porn dealer Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes) stumbles on a VR snufffilm, kickstarting a satisfyingly twisty story of conspiracy, double-crossing and general seediness. While the whodunit provides an effective hook, it’s an oddly-paced affair – it’s nearly an hour before the main plot gets…

Universally Challenged RELEASED 23 October 2017 | 15 | Blu-ray/DVD/download Creator Alex Kurtzman Cast Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis, Jake Johnson As the apocryphal cursedeclares, “Death shall come on swift wings to whoever disturbs the peace of the pharaoh.” Universal’s exhumation of its ancestral horror franchise may have summoned a swift death of its own. Met with dismal box office and reviews that could stink out a sarcophagus, The Mummypotentially strangled the studio’s dream of a creature-focused cinematic universe at birth. Given that reception there’s an inevitable whiffof hubris as the Universal globe mutates into the Dark Universe logo in the opening moments (though if any studio’s the rightful heir to the kind of shared reality Marvel’s so brilliantly exploited it’s Universal – 1944’s monster-mashing House Of Frankenstein was…

Brain Stormed released OUT NOW! 2017 | 15 | Blu-ray/DVD Director Noah Hawley Cast Dan Stevens, Rachel Keller, Aubrey Plaza, Jean Smart Superhero shows areeverywhere these days, and we’re slipping into overkill territory. Legion does something very different. Coming from the mind of Fargo’s Noah Hawley – who pulled offturning a Coen brothers movie into a successful series that didn’t slavishly ape it – it takes the X-Men universe, steps to the side and back (it’s set in an undefined ’60s/’70s era, albeit one with touches of modern technology) and finds a new way in. Dan Stevens gives one of his best performances as the tortured David Haller, long-diagnosed with mental illness, who turns out to be something more. But the real revelation here is in the treatment of the…

RELEASED OUT NOW! 1972 | 15 | Blu-ray Director Hsu Chiang Chou Cast Margaret Hsing Hui, Fan Yang, Carrie Ku Mei Compared to some of 88Films’s previous releases in their 88 Asia Collection (such as Black Magic, Hex and The Oily Maniac) this latest Hong Kong horror from Shaw Brothers Studios is positively restrained, registering only four or five on the insane-ometer True, it features a young man marrying a ghost… or a zombie, or a victim of possession (the exact nature of the “Bride” is bafflingly unclear, and we’re not convinced this is entirely a case of different cultural traditions), who then takes her revenge on the rich men who murdered her family 20 years ago. Cue much swooping about on wires, bathed in grotty green light/ gliding about…

RELEASED 16 October 2017 | PG | DVD/download/VOD We’ve all had excruciatingteenage experiences, but none quite so awful as suddenly transforming into a monster in front of everyone we know. That’s just the start for Lucas though, as he learns that everything he believed about his family was wrong, and journeys to the island of his birth in search of answers. The animation feels strangely flat, the female characters are appalling and plot-wise it constantly feels like there are scenes or conversations missing. Monstrously mediocre Extras None.…

The slashed resort RELEASED OUT NOW! 1981 | 18 | Blu-ray Director Joe Dante Cast Dee Wallace, Patrick Macnee, Dennis Dugan, Christopher Stone Blu-Ray debut Althoughovershadowed by the release, four months later, of An American Werewolf In London, Joe Dante’s take on lycanthropy remains an entertaining one. The gritty establishing scenes, which follow a TV reporter (Dee Wallace) to a sleazy sex shop to meet a serial killer, feel like a Brian De Palma film. Thereafter, as Karen visits a country resort, it’s more what you’d expect from the Gremlins director, with oddball characters and in-jokes aplenty. Genre fans will also nod knowingly at the parade of familiar faces, including The Avengers’ Patrick Macnee, Body Snatchers’ Kevin McCarthy and horror veteran John Carradine. Having said that, when Dante removes tongue…

RELEASED OUT NOW! 304 pages | Hardback/ebook Author Leigh Bardugo Publisher Orion Children’s Books This collection of fairy taleseschews a Disney feel in favour of the darkness of the Brothers Grimm, with a lavish helping of Neil Gaiman or Michael Chabon on the side. By this we mean that they’re meaty, textured and satisfying – and even though they’re ostensibly aimed at young adults, they’re grown-up enough to be enjoyed by everybody, as all good fairytales should be. Racially and ethnically diverse, they have a feminist edge and, despite their fantastical settings, are grounded in reality (traditional heroines of fairytales rarely have the good sense these women exhibit). Some stories might feel familiar: “The Witch Of Duva” riffs offHansel and Gretel; “When Water Sang Fire” could be said to show…

If I ever try to list my ten favourite movies, two things are certain. One: half will have changed a week later. And two: most of them will come from the 1980s. I know I’m not alone. Those of us born in the ’70s and early ’80s were spoiled with a succession of great movies that captured the collective imagination, as the likes of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas led a golden age of blockbusters that people loved – and still do. So the Duffer brothers were definitely onto something when they tapped a nostalgic ’80s nerve to create Stranger Things. One year on, the little show that conquered the world has returned and we decided to travel back to 1984 via Hawkins, Indiana. We’ve spoken to Eleven, her Goonie…

SCI-FACT! Chucky’s new nemesis, Nica, is played by Fiona Dourif, daughter of Chucky actor Brad Dourif. Subscribe at myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/sfx CHUCKY’S GOT UNFINISHED BUSINESS 1 Curse Of Chucky saw everyone’s favourite pint-sized strangler get a new lease of life and a new nemesis in troubled Nica (Fiona Dourif ). Cut to Cult Of Chucky and the killing shows no signs of stopping. “We pick up four years later with Nica’s story,” reveals series overseer Don Mancini. “The end of Curse saw Nica taking the rap for Chucky and sent to the loony bin. She believes Chucky was a delusion and she herself is the murderer but when her psychiatrist introduces a Good Guy doll as a therapeutic tool, mayhem ensues. Chucky does what he does,” he smiles. “He has unfinished business. He…

Because famous people are fans too First SF/Fantasy Film The one that really blew me away and pulled me into that world was the original King Kong. Even by today’s standards, there’s something very dreamlike and weird about the world in that movie, the very stark black and white. The other one that stayed with me was the animated Yellow Submarine in terms of, “Oh, you can just do anything you think of”. It has a weird logic to it, and it’s just really beautiful. When John Lennon is singing “All You Need Is Love” and feeding the glove by making words fall out of the sky? That was kind of amazing for a little kid to see. Favourite SF/Fantasy Comic Right now, the one that really blows me away…

Most games come with a healthmeter: a nice, glowing red bar telling you when to drink a potion, pop a med pack or have a rest until it refills. Call Of Cthulhu, on the other hand, has a sanity meter, as grizzled 1920s private investigator Edward Pierce makes his way to a mansion to uncover the secrets behind the tragic death of a family. Spoilers: it’s not due to a leaky gas pipe. Based on the pen-and-paper RPG of the same name, Call Of Cthulhu delivers atmospheric Lovecraftian madness in spades as Pierce slowly unfolds the dark mystery of the intimidating house. There is no monster battling here; everything must be investigated to piece together the truth. Pierce’s dialogue options expand the more information he gleans, but that has a…

SCI-FACT! Future Man is from the minds of Superbad and Preacher writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. BIG SCREEN TO SMALL SCREEN “I don’t really have plans in life. I don’t set goals. I know what I want to do in the moment and see where it leads me. I read the Future Manpilot and it was really original, really interesting and a fun character in a world I’ve never stepped into before. So I was really excited to do it.” LIVING THE DREAM “What I liked about [my character] Josh Futterman is that he is interesting and charismatic to a certain extent, but his life is not on the path that he expected. He’s a dreamer and he transports himself to these other worlds, like I’ve done my entire…

AN EVENING WITH KEN MACLEOD 17 October Bath Waterstones hosts the prolific sci-fiauthor for an evening of genre chat tied to his latest book, The Corporation Wars: Emergence. http://bit.ly/SFXken THE EXORCIST 20 October- 10 March Terror arrives at the Phoenix Theatre in London as Sean Mathias directs the stage version of William Peter Blatty’s novel. Raincoats recommended. atgtickets.com EXPERIMENT 3-5 November The organisers of SCI-FI-LONDON bring a new event to the capital’s EXP venue, featuring gaming tournaments, talks, live music and plenty of movies. There’ll also be an all-night film and game marathon. http://bit.ly/SFXExp GOLLANCZ FESTIVAL 4-5 November A weekend of fantasy fun courtesy of Gollancz. Joanne Harris, AK Benedict and Joe Hill will all be at Foyles’ Charing Cross Road branch. www.foyles.co.uk/Gollancz-Festival WEEKEND OF THE DEAD 4-5 November Get…

MUTT PUT DOWN! INDIANA JONES 5 The exact nature of Indiana Jones’s next archaeological quest remains a mystery – the Spear of Destiny? The ruins of Atlantis? Hugh Hefner’s posing pouch? – But one thing’s certain: Shia LaBeouf won’t be along for the raiding. Screenwriter David Koepp confirms that the next screenplay has no place for Mutt Williams, Indy’s greaser son introduced in 2008’s Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Shrug. “We’re plugging away at it,” he tells Entertainment Weekly. “In terms of when we would start, I think that’s up to Mr Spielberg and Mr Ford. Work will be endless and Steven just finished shooting The Post… If the stars align, hopefully it’ll be his next film.” Indy 5 has lashed a whip to 10 July 2020.…

OH, MOTHER... What do you get if you cross an exceptionally talented auteur director, the hottest acting talent available, a decent budget, gorgeous production design and a script that feels like it was written by an A-level Theatre Studies student? Mother! (reviewed on p96). If you’ve not seen and don’t want to be spoiled, move along, but this is the one of the clumsiest masterpieces ever. Jennifer Lawrence plays Mother Earth/ the (not virgin) Mary, with Javier Bardem as God. It’s a biblical and environmental allegory so heavily hammered home it even features Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, John the Baptist, Moses, Eden, the Flood and a plague of one frog. Many theories of what Mother! is truly about have been circulating the internet, but even Darren Aronofsky has…

How do you feel the original Nightmare On Elm Street series holds up? I am really proud of them. They all hold up and always will. Some were better than others but everyone accepts the first one and the third one are classics; Wes Craven’s New Nightmare has a huge following, Freddy Vs Jason, the Renny Harlin sequel [part four]… there is some great stuffin there. And even the ones that the fans are a little less fond of have interesting things going on. Are you disappointed that we never got to see Freddy Vs Jason Vs Ash? Yeah – and then there was some talk about Freddy going against Michael Myers. It is a shame because Freddy Vs Jason was a huge success and it took up a year of my life…

Spielberg had just come from thePoltergeistcontroversy with Tobe Hooper when you made Gremlinsfor him… He said to me, “I can’t have other people thinking I am making these movies. I am leaving you to it,” – and he went away to do Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom. But when he came back and saw Gremlins he was flabbergasted. It was not the movie that he thought he was going to get. In what way? He wanted another horror movie and I remember sitting behind him in the theatre watching Gremlins and his hand kept going up to his forehead. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. And the studio, Warner Bros, wasn’t crazy about it either. They thought the Gremlins were hideous and they especially hated the scene where…

What do you think made Biffsuch a memorable bad guy? He had absolutely no glint of kindness or redeeming qualities whatsoever! None. Why was he such an appealing character to play? Where else do you get to portray many different characters in the same family, in different times, under different circumstances? It was a lot of fun and a great challenge. What’s your favourite Biffmoment? When he gets punched by George McFly, spins around, hits the car and ends up on the ground unconscious! I remember the audience cheered like they’ve never cheered before when they saw that! That tells you something. Do you wish time travel were real? I think the universe would explode because of Doc’s warning that if you change the past that changes the future too.…

Essential League lore Created by insanely prolific comic book writer Gardner Fox, the Justice League of America debuted in Brave And The Bold #28 in 1960, trouncing the multi-suckered menace of a giant alien starfish named Starro The League was a Silver Age spin on ’40s team the Justice Society of America, who were retconned to exist on a parallel Earth. The name was tweaked to reflect the early ’60s boom in baseball’s National League. Founding members included Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Aquaman, the Flash, Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter. Oh, and a finger-clickin’ hipster-teen sidekick named Snapper Carr… The team scored phenomenal sales. Rival publisher Martin Goodman ordered Stan Lee to create a superhero squad of his own – he did, and called it the Fantastic Four. So…

How has Mon-El’s departure affected Kara? It’s shook her to her core, and she’s dealing with it on every front of her life. The scales that she’s always trying to handle and maintain as Kara Zor-El the superhero and Kara Danvers the reporter are very much leaning towards Supergirl right now. How hard is it to balance her grief with her inherent optimism? It feels like what should be happening for her right now because of what she went through. I’ve always thought of her story as so tragic, but beautifully tragic because of how she turned around losing her entire world and her family and her entire life as she knew it, and then coming to Earth and building this life. So she handled that as a child, and…

Has Loki enjoyed his time in charge? Well, at the end of Thor: The Dark World, you see Loki on the throne. so the film opens with a couple of characters wondering what’s been going on in asgard. the Thor universe has always been a family drama, and Ragnarok is no exception you’ve been the bad guy, what can we expect from Hela? hela feels like a completely new villain. and there’s no question; she is the villain of the piece. It’s huge fun for me because I don’t have to be! she’s amazing. We shot her entrance a couple of weeks ago. We were all like, “she is bad.” truly, extraordinarily bad. does Taika bring a different energy to the series? he’s not trying to reheat the same recipe…

In 1962 Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created Thor the God of Thunder, but it’s taken until Ragnarok for the Silver Age artist’s distinctive style to trickle down to the MCU. Seen most clearly in the colourful, detail-packed planet of Sakaar, Kirby’s aesthetic was a perfect fit for a far-out world. “Taika introduced Jack Kirby to the picture,” says production designer Dan Hennah. “We were talking about Sakaar and the first day he brought out this Jack Kirby piece of art, a painting of a face and helmet, and said, ‘This is Sakaar’” The influential illustrator’s style will be seen in everything from the geometric patterns and Galactus-esque helmet designs on Sakaar, to the “Kirby Krackle” which informed the film’s VFX. “The great thing about Jack Kirby’s art is it’s…

How does it feel when you get a script as crazy as this? It makes you feel very hungry as an actor. I have a sense of how Matthew works now and how a script will go from the page to the screen. And it had to be that batshit crazy, because the first one was crazy enough. We all knew we were really going to have to go for it here in order for everyone to still be wide-eyed. How does Eggsy evolve in this one? He’s trying to remain faithful to who he is, and to have this relationship while also having to save the world, and that’s a really interesting concept. Even in this larger-thanlife universe, what’s it like for a 24-year-old kid to juggle being a…

RELEASED 13 October U | 101 minutes Directors Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher, Bob Logan Cast Dave Franco, Jackie Chan, Justin Theroux, Michael Peña Three films in, the LegoMovie franchise is starting to show a real pattern to its stories, and that’s both a strength and a weakness. For a while The Lego Ninjago Movie reveals itself as a perfectly fun time in the cinema – and will particularly delight younger viewers – but not all the pieces fit together as smoothly as with its forebears Focusing on a blend of outsider learning to find his place (see Emmet in The Lego Movie) and family issues (The Lego Batman Movie played on Bruce’s cravings and fears on that front), Ninjago follows Lloyd (Franco), who’s ostracised for being the son of the…

HANK MORGAN In Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court, the titular time traveller defeats eight different knights in a tournament by yanking them out of their saddles – including Sir Launcelot! BRAVESTARR What could be better than a regular lasso? Why, a laser lasso, of course! Native American lawman BraveStarr used one to tackle the miscreants of desert planet New Texas in Filmation’s spacewestern toon. SHE-RA Wielded by He-Man’s twin sister, the Sword of Protection can transform into other weapons, including a bolas, a boomerang, and well… have a guess. All she has to do is shout, “Sword to lasso!” THE SWEEPS In Transformers: The Movie, four Sweeps (minions of the evil Scourge) use energy lassos to quarter Ultra Magnus by pulling him apart! Well, in the…

RELEASED OUT NOW! 1984 | PG | Blu-ray Director John Carpenter Cast JeffBridges, Karen Allen, Charles Martin Smith Blu-Ray debut Despite beingpart of John Carpenter’s golden run of late-’70s/early-’80s genre movies, Starman rarely gets a mention alongside the likes of Halloween, Escape From New York and The Thing. That’s rather unfair, because his uncharacteristically romantic ET-for-grown-ups is charming, heartwarming and impeccably played by leads Karen Allen and JeffBridges (who was Oscarnominated for his role). That said, Starman skirts perilously close to not working at all, plundering every cliché in the alien visitation playbook. As Bridges’s advanced extraterrestrial visitor assumes the form of grieving Jenny Hayden’s (Allen) late husband, he reveals a penchant for bringing dead things back to life, asks questions about what love is, and admits to respecting humanity…

RELEASED 16 October 2016 | 15 | Blu-ray/DVD Creator Nick Antosca Cast Paul Schneider, Fiona Shaw, Luisa D’Oliveira, Natalie Brown Is too much TV bad forkids? Syfy’s attempt to do an American Horror Story-style anthology show comes out firmly on the side of “Yes”. Inspired by a “creepypasta Inspired by a “creepypasta” story written as an online forum thread, this first six-part run follows child psychiatrist Mike Painter (Parks And Recreation’s Paul Schneider) back to the small town where, 28 years ago, four children were found dead and his twin brother went missing. It all has something to do with Candle Cove, a pirate-themed puppet show that no one actually broadcast… and which kids are now seeing again. If you’re jonesing for more Twin Peaks then Channel Zeromight take the…

RELEASED OUT NOW! 1971 | E | Blu-ray/DVD Shot on the sets of JessFranco’s 1969 Dracula, this curio turns making-of footage into an experimental art film; dialogue-free, its soundtrack is thick with musique concrète hisses and pneumatic drills. Its political motivation – critiquing the “vampirism” of General Franco – doesn’t really come across. And horror fans will be more interested in shots of actresses smoking fags and Christopher Lee in sunglasses. Extras Director interview; an appreciation; shorts…

Note perfect released OUT NOW! 1977 | PG | 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray Director Steven Spielberg Cast Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, Francois Truffaut Star Wars defined ’70s SFcinema but Steven Spielberg made the movie that held the heart of the decade. Powered by the Jaws-maker’s personal passion for UFOlogy, Close Encounters collides post-Watergate paranoia with the kind of New Age, paperbackfriendly mysticism that inspired a generation of suburbanites to open their third eyes. Time has changed our perception of the film – the abstract poetry of the title, so familiar now; the surprise of friendly aliens after the film persuades us they’re malevolent techno-poltergeists – but this dazzling 4K restoration reminds us it’s essentially a hymn to cinema, to sound, to image, to awe. Indiana Jones looked away from the…

In Mexican effort THE UNTA MED (out now, Blu-ray/DVD), a young woman’s drawn to a cabin in the country to writhe with a mysterious Lovecraftian creature. We said: “Admirers of Under The Skin and Denis Villeneuve will likely respond well to this enigmatic effort, which tethers its weirdness to social realism.” If you don’t already own Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent classic, grab the limited edition 90th anniversary box set of METROPOLIS (out now, Blu-ray). Available exclusively from the Eureka Video webstore, this three-disc set includes the 150-minute reconstruction from 2010, the previous 2001 restoration, Giorgio Moroder’s 1984 cut, and a 100-page book. We said: “The strength of the film is in its groundbreaking visuals: the ‘birth’ of the robot Maria, the Blade Runner-inspiring cityscapes… It truly deserves its revered reputation.”…

Shaun Hutson’s latest fear-fest,Chase, is horrible. Focusing on a young family’s encounters with a cruel cult, Chase puts Hutson’s leads through some very disturbing experiences. So much so, even he felt sorry for them. “When I was three quarters through Chase I thought, ‘Fuck, these poor people have been through so much,’” he tells Red Alert. “Unfortunately, it didn’t stop me putting them through a bit more…” Part of what makes Chase such a tough journey is the intense violence. But Hutson’s darkest moments have honourable intentions. “I don’t have a problem with violence as long as it’s shown realistically. Anything that glorifies the violence or doesn’t show it for the vile and disgusting thing it is, in my mind is wrong.” We’ll wait and see if the (already optioned)…

SCI-FACT! After landing the role of Jimmy Olsen, Michael Landes went on assignment with the LA Times to prepare. A few years back, Nick Harkaway had aconversation with William Gibson. The cyberpunk luminary revealed himself as a writer who likes to dive in and follow the story. “I’ve always been a bit plan-orientated and I thought, ‘Right that’s really interesting, I must try this out,’” says Harkaway. “And I started writing, and three years later I delivered this kind of telephone directory to my bemused editors.” The directory in question is Gnomon, Harkaway’s fourth novel and by far his most ambitious. Dressed up as a multi-stranded murder mystery that involves a detective in a near-future Britain investigating “a sequence of increasingly impossible things”, it’s a book that deals with surveillance,…

SCI-FACT! This year, Enrico Colantoni has also been in Canadian crime series Bad Blood, from the mind of Continuum creator Simon Barry. Although it was created by formerStargate franchise-runner Brad Wright and stars Will & Grace’s Eric McCormack, Travelers has flown under the radar since it debuted on Showcase in Canada and Netflix elsewhere late last year Nonetheless, the series, about operatives from the future who assume the identities of people at death’s door in the present day, has earned some impressive viewer endorsements for its first season. Approval by 96% of Google users and an 8/10 score on IMDb are the kind of stats that producers of many heavily hyped US network shows would die for. Much of this success can be put down to word-of-mouth, according to actor…

Gal Gadot in talks to join SF thrillerDeeper… Millennium developing a reboot of Sheena, Queen Of The Jungle… Drew Goddard directingX-Force for Fox… Gary Oldman joining maritime suspenser Mary… Christine Boylan writing the screenplay forPainkiller Jane… Joel McHale joining Brian Henson’s The Happytime Murders… Wonder Woman’s Jason Fuchs writingRobotech for Sony, to be directed byIT’s Andy Muschietti… Daniel Dae Kim replacing Ed Skrein in Hellboy… Wes Ball directing graphic novel adapMouse Guard…The Accountant’s Gavin O’Connor directing Suicide Squad 2… Martin Campbell helmingTreasure Of Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves… Sony bringing The Crow back to the screen… Leonardo DiCaprio reportedly wanted for the standalone Joker movie…SPECTRE’s Jez Butterworth rewriting the sequel toMaleficent… Judi Dench in the frame for Kenneth Branagh’s Artemis Fowl adaptation…Thor: Ragnarok’s Taika Waititi in talks for liveactionAkira… Phil Lord and Chris Miller rewritingThe Lego Movie Sequel……

““WRITING FICTION ISN’T FANTASY. I DO IT TO CONFRONT A DEEPER TRUTH” Speculative fiction and realism may seem like opposites, but when yousit down to actually write speculative fiction, you rapidly discover this isn’t the case. Whatever world you have created, if it doesn’t feel real to the reader, you won’t hold their attention. When a character steps out of an ordinary 21st century home and hops on a bus to work, the author doesn’t have to do much work to make this believable. If your character steps out of their house into a place that doesn’t in fact exist, or into a substantially altered version of a real location, every word you write has to perform that task of seducing your reader into believing you. How do you do…

How do you look back at The NeverEnding Story? I’m in such a different place in my life. I’m a mom, I’ve been making art for 20 years... I find it very moving that this film still speaks to people. The film was sort of forgotten and I think the 30th anniversary [brought it back]. Everyone who watched it as a kid is having kids, and they’re showing it to their kids. What did you enjoy about playing The Childlike Empress? She was an amazing role. The NeverEnding Story is all about building the world through the power of imagination. She’s like chi; she’s the thing that inspires the next idea. What was it like making the film? The experience of doing the film as a child was a bit overwhelming.…

Maggie, Escape From New York What are your memories of working with John Carpenter? You were also married to him for a while – was that ever a conflict? No, not at all – John was a fantastic filmmaker and he gave me a chance to really kick ass in Escape From New York. Where does Escape From New York rate among your favourite roles? It is right up there. I have two favourite kinds of roles – I love being the woman that kicks ass or being an icy-cold femme fatale. I just wish more people would write a good, solid role for an older woman. Hollywood is so obsessed with age – but women also want to see this sort of thing, you know? They enjoy watching strong, mature females.…

dolescence can be a trickytime. There’s acne, angst and awkward encounters with the opposite sex to deal with, not to mention all the bloodsucking vampires knocking around. That was certainly the case for the cast of Joel Schumacher’s seminal 1987 horror The Lost Boys. His tale of brothers Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim) struggling to fit into their new beach community amid an epidemic of party-loving neck-biters flipped the coming-of-age genre on its head and gave vampires a much needed makeover. For its stars, this rollercoaster ride was cemented in celluloid history during one crazy summer in 1986 and as the film turns 30, it manages to evoke fond memories from those involved. “I’d done a bunch of little things but this was a whole other level. I…

THE SFX AUTHOR INTERVIEW Being worried about the loss of our heritage isn’ta new idea. In the late 19th century, Harvard academic Francis James Child began to gather and publish the lyrics of British folk songs, and their American variants, lyrics he was worried might otherwise be lost. His English And Scottish Popular Ballads, better known as the Child Ballads, offer a precious snapshot of our islands’ folklore “They ought to be as famous as Grimms’ Fairy Tales, but for some reason they haven’t become so,” says Joanne M Harris, with just a hint of reproach in her voice. Perhaps that’s about to change. A new novella from Harris, A Pocketful Of Crows, was inspired by ballad 295 of 305, “The Brown Girl”. A dark and magical tale of love…

BATMAN Batman has the biggest shift in the contrast between his individual books and his Justice League appearances. The darkness, the shadows, the night setting are often gone, especially in scenes shared with the team. There he has to fit into a primary colour tapestry. There are fewer chances to do the big cape thing too. Fortunately he’s the most malleable character in the DCU, serving Adam West to Christopher Nolan, Lego to Frank Miller. He fits but you do need to be aware of the limits. FLASH Flash is the one you can push a little further. He’s all movement, all energy. He’s maybe the shortest guy there and in the group setting I like to draw him as the thinnest. His muscles are in his legs, not his…

Now that Arrow will no longer focus on Oliver’s past, what would you like to see it focus on? It sounds like an easy answer, but it’s character growth. I want to do new stuffwith the character. One of the only things I can talk about for season six is that he has interactions with [his son] William. And him as a dad is something I’ve never really been able to play, save for sparing moments How is Oliver maturing? It’s in the nooks and crannies. We have a scene where I’m talking to someone on the team, and instead of barking a direction, I changed it so I just looked at them and they acknowledged what they have to do. It’s little things like that. So he’s learned to…

What excited you about Hela? I was really excited by the potential to make something new. With each film there’s a chance to reinvent or re-examine characters, even someone like thor. and certainly with hela, she’s not widely known, so there’s a lot of elbow room to invent something. did you turn to the comics for inspiration? I get really visually inspired, no matter the role. I’m fascinated by the way different illustrators draw characters differently. there were some versions of hela where she was not wearing very much. It was more of the Playboy end of the spectrum [laughs]. We haven’t necessarily gone in that direction. Have you enjoyed the action? I loved it! there’s been such wit and psychology behind all of the action. It’s been great to…

ith the exception of Jack Kirby, no comic creator has depicted the operatic grandeur of Asgard like Walt Simonson, whose 1980s run on Thor is arguably the thunder god’s finest hour. During his tenure, Simonson first offered his interpretation of Norse mythology’s Ragnarok, images from which have inspired the third Thor film. “Ragnarok is a fabulous story,” says Simonson, who wrote and drew the acclaimed take on the myth. “Go out and find a copy of the Elder Edda, or the Poetic Edda. There are old translations up on the web. Generally placed first is a poem called ‘Völuspá’, which is the birth and death of the universe basically. The last bunch of verses are our record of Ragnarok, and what the Vikings thought was going to happen. The story…

Get sci-finews, reviews and features at gamesradar.com/sfx Lost in the woods RELEASED 13 OCTOBER 15 | 94 minutes Director David Bruckner Cast Rafe Spall, Robert James-Collier, Arsher Ali, Paul Reid “This is awful in everyconceivable way,” one character announces early on in The Ritual. While the film’s not quite that bad, superfans of Adam Nevill’s novel will probably mutter the same sentence during key moments. Nevill has been compared to Stephen King, and this movie is clearly influenced by The Shining, in terms of on-the-nose visual homage. And as with The Shining, the adaptation is radically different from the original book Here, a first-act brutal robbery has been added, ostensibly to give lead character Luke a clearer emotional journey for the audience to latch onto. Then, we’re into the story…

RELEASED 13 October 15 | 89 minutes Director Benjamin Barfoot Cast Danny Morgan, Michael Socha, Kelly Wenham Bringing to mindeverything from the James Corden dud Lesbian Vampire Killers to Danny Dyer-starrer Severance, the phrase “British horror-comedy” is enough to make you run screaming. But Double Date is different. Scripted by and starring Danny Morgan (On The Road), the emphasis is more on comedy. Think The 40-Year-Old Virginmeets Fatal Attraction, and you’re somewhere near this nightmare date-movie. Morgan’s Jim is the perennial loser when it comes to women, still a virgin on the eve of his 30th birthday. But when he and cocky friend Alex (Michael Socha) bar-hop to meet two sisters – Lulu (Georgia Groome) and Kitty (Kelly Wenham) – they think they’re in for a night of passion. Debut…

OUT NOW! FLATLINERS Medical students play with near-death experiences in this sequel to the 1990 movie. Sadly this hadn’t screened by the time we went to press. BLADE RUNNER 2049 Same goes for Denis Villeneuve’s sequel, in which Ryan Gosling’s LAPD officer goes in search of Deckard. 13 OCTOBER HELLRAISER Pleasure/pain demons the Cenobites sink their hooks into audiences once more as Clive Barker’s superb horror gets a limited 30th anniversary reissue. 20 OCTOBER GEOSTORM This slice of disaster sci-fisees Gerard Butler go up against climate-control satellites gone rogue. HAPPY DEATH DAY A young woman relives being murdered at her birthday party in this high-concept slasher flick. MY LITTLE PONY: THE MOVIE The animated series Friendship Is Magic gets a feature-length spinoff. 24 OCTOBER THOR: RAGNAROK The Asgardian prince is…

RELEASED OUT NOW! 2001 | 12 | Blu-ray & DVD (dual format) Director Shinichiro Watanabe Cast Koichi Yamadera, Megumi Hayashibara, Unsho Ishizuka Blu-Ray debut Nearly 20 yearsafter its debut, Cowboy Bebopremains a favourite among anime fans. Following shambolic bounty hunters in a retro-future space-opera, it’s violent, cool, farcical, ironic and tragic. The series is on Blu-ray already; this is the subsequent film, a new adventure set before the final TV episodes. The original series often took place in space, but the film is grounded in a “Martian” city that’s the spitting image of New York. (Bebop loves to pastiche old action movies; the film’s central chase scene evokes The French Connection.) The story’s about a deranged terrorist armed with killer nanomachines; Bebop’s disengaged outsider hero, Spike Spiegel, feels kinship with…

Soaring high RELEASED OUT NOW! 2004 | PG | Blu-ray & DVD (dual format) Director Katsuhiro Otomo Cast Anna Paquin, Patrick Stewart, Alfred Molina, Kari Wahlgren blu-ray debut Made in Japanbut celebrating Britain, this steampunk spectacular from the director of Akira still looks amazing. Released a year after the disastrous live-action League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, it shows what a steampunk blockbuster should look like. Set in 1866, it starts with boy inventor Ray Steam passing the Rover’s Return pub in Manchester (yes, really), before becoming involved in an epic action scene: riding a motorised unicycle as he’s chased by a steam-driven tank. Soon he’s in London, where the Crystal Palace becomes a battleground and Tower Bridge is smashed by a flying fortress. All this carnage is down to a “steamball”,…

released OUT NOW! 2017 | 15 | DVD There’s a pretty decent ideabehind this compact heist movie-cum-supernatural thriller, in which a bunch of armed robbers venture into a bank’s haunted vault, yet the execution is so lifeless that it manages to bungle both the genres it’s borrowing from. Despite running at 90 minutes, there’s simply not enough story in Dan Bush’s half-cooked script, and though it seems to be forever promising us a full-on weird-out in its last act, the movie’s just too straightlaced to really go for it Extras None…

RELEASED OUT NOW! 2016 | PG | Blu-ray/DVD/ download/VOD If what was missing fromyour life was a movie about a teenage monkey in space defeating an evil lord and reclaiming his planet, then good news – this is for you. For anyone else, however, it has little to offer. Despite its framing as a coming-of-ager, the eponymous Spark shows no real growth, not so much learning from his failures as simply being given more chances until things go right, while the animation feels flat and emotionless. Extras Trailers.…

RELEASED OUT NOW! 2017 | SVOD Director Mike Flanagan Cast Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Carel Struycken, Henry Thomas netflix What with IT, TheDark Tower and now this, 2017 has been ripe with Stephen King adaptations. Gerald’s Game is one of King’s lesser-known works: a short single-location novel about a couple who go away to reconnect in a secluded retreat. Except the husband soon dies from a heart attack during a sex game, leaving his wife helpless and handcuffed to the bed. Director Mike Flanagan takes a similar approach to his earlier film Hush, also about a woman trying to survive the night inside a house. The result is a glossy, psychological horror, though it often feels too polished for any feelings of dread to kick in. Carla Gugino is amazing…