Ghost Story
Blu-ray
Director: John Irvin
Screenwriter: Lawrence D. Cohen
Cast: Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., John Houseman, Craig Wasson, Patricia Neal, Alice Krige
Scream Factory
Rated R | 110 Minutes
Release Date: November 24, 2015

“I will take you places you’ve never been. I will show you things that you have never seen and I will see the life run out of you.”

Written by Lawrence D. Cohen (Carrie) and directed by John Irvin (Hamburger Hill), 1981’s Ghost Story is based on the best-selling 1979 novel by author Peter Straub.

In a quiet New England town, four old friends – Ricky Hawthorne (Fred Astaire), Sears James (John Houseman), Dr. John Jaffrey (Melvyn Douglas), and Edward Wanderley (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) – comprise the Chowder Society, a social club dedicated to the telling of ghastly tales.

Scary stories become reality after a bizarre family tragedy. In New York City, Edward’s son, David (Craig Wasson, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors), dies under unusual circumstances. After witnessing his fiancé (Alice Krige) transform into a living, rotting corpse, David plummets to his death from a high-rise window.

By now, in 2015, you’d think that studios would have caught on to the idea that they would want to cast a film like Gods of Egypt with actors who are, I don’t know, Egyptian. Just so that the actors can properly reflect the ethnicity of that time period. But after seeing the first posters and trailer for the film, it’s no surprise that there was an uproar over the idea that headlining star Gerard Butler could even pass as a Egyptian. Let’s not forget that Nikola Coster-Waldau and Brenton Thwaites, who also star in this film, are both white as well.

As confusing as this may sound, the film still got made, and with the all the vitriol it’s already been getting with just the first trailer and posters alone because it is so whitewashed, director Alex Proyas and Lionsgate have come out to apologize for it. See what they had to say below.

On Doctor Who Episode 9.11 “Heaven Sent,” after witnessing one of his worst nightmares, the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) is teleported to a mysterious castle that seems to reconfigure and alter its passageways causing a disorienting labyrinth prison for the Time Lord. He begins to unwind the mystery of who put him here and why, only to find he must face more of his own fears and confessions.

During TARDISblend 96, we discuss the critically acclaimed episode with a phenomenal performance from Peter Capaldi – the good, the bad, and the several jaw-dropping revelations from the adventure. We also examine where our predictions were right and/or wrong!

All this and more on the latest TARDISblend podcast!

The long-developing third Gremlins film was rumored to be a reboot, and as you can imagine, this didn’t sit well with any of the fans of the franchise. Despite these rumors, actor Zach Galligan says that it won’t be a reboot or a remake, but an actual sequel. And you might have Chris Columbus for keeping the franchise close to his chest and the huge success of Jurassic World to thank for that.

More on the story below.

Into The Badlands
Episode 1.3 “White Stork Spreads Wings”
Directed by David Dobkin
Written by Justine Juel Gillmer, Alfred Gough, Miles Millar
Starring Gabe Begneaud, Nazeema Bartek, Daniel Wu, Ruby Lou Smith, Aramis Knight, Ally Ioannides, Stephen Lang, Emily Beecham, Morgan Benoit, Marton Csokas, Sarah Bolger, Madeleine Mantock, Oliver Stark
AMC
Air date: Sunday, November 29, 2015, 10pm

On Into The Badlands, Sunny (Daniel Wu) is a man in conflict. He is a clipper, a modern-day samurai/knight for the Baron, Quinn (Marton Csokas). Sunny has an unknown past: a medallion links him to Asra, a land beyond the Badlands. After years of violent service to Quinn, Sunny now has to protect his pregnant girlfriend Veil (Madeleine Mantock) and look after his new protege, the mysterious M.K. (Aramis Knight), who gets a little crazy (and possessed) when attacked. Quinn meanwhile has his own issues to deal with as the most powerful Baron. He is slowly dying of brain tumors, and he was happy to kill to protect that secret. He is also dealing with a possible alliance of the other Barons led by The Widow (Emily Beecham).

So far in the first two episodes of this new AMC series, the formula has been epic fight… character fueled plot… epic fight scene. Let’s see if we continue the trend in week 3 with Episode 1.3 “White Stork Spreads Wings.”