1BR Written & Directed by David Marmor
Starring Nicole Brydon Bloom, Taylor Nichols, Giles Matheny, Naomi Grossman, Clayton Hoff, Curtis Webster, Alan Blumenfeld
Runtime: 90 Minutes
Distributor: Dark Sky Films
Release date: April 24, 2020
Streaming on Netflix
Cults are scary. Unlike demons, vampires, monsters, etc., cults are both 100% real and 100% human. In the last few years evidence about the recruiting tactics behind the Church of Scientology and NXIVM have been detailed in docu-series and tell-all books. Los Angeles has its own storied history of cult behavior, most infamously The Manson Family. David Marmor’s new film 1BR captures the unsettling reality of modern cult behavior and gets to the core of things that terrify any and everyone who lives in a big city or an apartment complex. Who are your neighbors really? Who can you truly trust in your building? Who is really watching you from the security cameras? Add in some mesmerizing performances and you are left with one of the most tense psychological horror films of the year.
They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and quarantine has the potential to suffocate those who crave conversation and discussion, especially about pop culture and movies. Ex-New Yorker and current Texan Peter Marsh felt that strain and used his time off to create his own YouTube channel, AnchorPete, in which he does movie and book reviews and interviews with genre authors. Through a mutual friend, he contacted Chris D’Onofrio and me to do a horror podcast focusing on our favorite director, Mike Flanagan. After two successful shows on his channel, the three of us have created The Lasser Cast, a new channel and horror review video podcast now on YouTube.
Dungeons & Dragons: Mythic Odysseys Of Theros Hardcover
D&D Accessory
Wizards Of The Coast
Release Date: July 21, 2020
Greetings from the time of COVID-19, good reader! I only just received this advance copy of Dungeons & Dragons: Mythic Odysseys Of Theros and while I am not very knowledgeable about Magic: the Gathering, I do know a bit more than most about Dungeons & Dragons. From my perspective, this is a new world, a new setting. And regardless of the source material, it is a new role playing source book. But for those who play Magic, this may well something even more special.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Every Generation #1 Print | Digital “Where All Paths Lead”
Written by Nilah Magruder
Illustrated by Lauren Knight
Colored by Alex Guimaraes
“The Hilot Of 1910”
Written by Morgan Beem and Lauren Garcia
Illustrated by Morgan Beem
“The Sisters Of Angelus”
Written and Illustrated by Caitlin Yarsky
Letters by Jim Campbell
Covers by Mirka Andolfo, Caitlin Yarsky, Celine Loup, Kajo Baldisimo
Publisher: Boom! Studios | 42 pages | full color
Release Date: June 3, 2020
I must admit, I always enjoy stories with an origin feel to them. Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Every Generation #1 is an oversized comic with three separate, but still related, stories. As any fan of the Buffyverse knows, Slayers have come and gone for centuries. When one dies another is called. This newest release gives us a short story from the lives of three Slayers, but not all of them have happy endings. But then, that is not really news, now is it?
Homewrecker Digital
Directed by Zach Gayne
Written by Precious Chong, Alex Essoe, Zach Gayne
Starring Alex Essoe, Precious Chong, Kris Siddiqi
Studio: Uncork’d Entertainment
Rating: 16+ | Run Time: 1h 16min
Release date: July 7, 2020 (Drive-In/DVD); July 7, 2020 (Digital/On Demand)
From Uncork’d Entertainment and Dark Star Pictures, Homewrecker is a surprising little movie. Imagine Single White Female meets Fatal Attraction by way of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but done almost as a minimalist stage play. And while the set was a bit conventional, it quickly spirals out of control in the best possible ways. The fact that the two leads co-wrote and co-produced the movie alongside director Zach Gayne shows how intimate this project was.
The Dinner Party DVD | Digital
Directed by Miles Doleac
Written by Miles Doleac & Michael Donovan Horn
Starring Bill Sage, Lindsay Anne Williams, Jeremy London, Mike Mayhall, Alli Hart, Sawandhi Wilson, Ritchie Montgomery
Studio: Uncork’d Entertainment
Not Rated | Run Time: 115 minutes
Release date: June 9, 2020 (Digital/On Demand/DVD)
Plenty of horror movies in recent memory have used the “dinner party” as a plot device to mixed results, and Miles Doleac’s The Dinner Party does bear some resemblance to contemporary horror films like The Invitation and Would You Rather, but that’s only in the set up. After that the film follows with a beautifully shot, super gory, cannibal cult movie with a highly intellectual script, great soundtrack, and slick sense of humor.
Jeff (Mike Mayhall) and his wife Haley (Alli Hart) arrive at a beautiful mansion for the titular event, Jeff hoping to get his latest play produced by their wealthy hosts. Jeff wants things to go perfectly and that means Haley better behave. It’s clear from the onset Jeff is psychologically abusive, and we learn through a series of flashbacks that Haley has a very dark and troublesome past. They are greeted at the door by the obnoxiously playful Sebastian (Sawandhi Wilson) and we soon meet the dinner table of guests including Sadie (Lindsay Anne Williams), Carmine (Bill Sage), who is both a doctor and chef, famous author Agatha (Kamille McGuin), and Vincent (Doleac).
Violent Delights is a recap podcast where hosts Andrew Sorcini, Dwayne DeFreitas, and Tosin Onafowokan discuss HBO’s Westworld, and the larger questions this ambitious show hopes to tackle.
On this week’s podcast, Andrew, Tosin, and Dwayne deconstruct the final episode of Westworld‘s third season, “Crisis Theory”, as they ask: What astonished Bernard in the Sublime, and how long has he been gone? Have we really seen the end of the ‘real’ William & Dolores Prime? Will Char-lores wipe out humanity? And will we really need to wait until 2022 for the next season?!!
Star Trek: The Higher Frontier Star Trek: The Original Series Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook
By Christopher L. Bennett
Publisher: Star Trek/Pocket Books
Release date: March 10, 2020
After the events of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, James T. Kirk retained command of the U.S.S. Enterprise and he and his trusty crew were assigned a second 5-year mission to explore new worlds. In Star Trek: The Higher Frontier, a new story in The Original Series timeline, Christopher L. Bennett weaves of tale of hatred, destruction, and betrayal, as a group of peaceful telepaths are hunted to near extinction by phantom killers and it’s up to the Enterprise crew to figure out who’s behind these attacks and how to stop them.
In 2018, a Kickstarter campaign was launched to crowdsource for an all-encompassing documentary about 80’s horror and the fruits of that venture were born with David Weiner’s In Search of Darkness: A Journey into Iconic 80’s Horror. The over-4 hour documentary paid loving tribute to horror’s gaudiest decade and had dozens of 80’s horror legends as contributors. Now Weiner is back to explore another glorious section of 80’s filmdom… science fiction. On Tuesday, April 21st, a kickstarter was launched for In Search of Tomorrow: The Definitive ’80s Sci-Fi Documentary. The film is Executive Produced again by Creator VC and their CEO Robin Block.
Violent Delights is a recap podcast where hosts Andrew Sorcini, Dwayne DeFreitas, and Tosin Onafowokan discuss HBO’s Westworld, and the larger questions this ambitious show hopes to tackle.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press
