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

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.