Fans of AMC’s The Walking Dead, as well as the comic book series created by Robert Kirkman that the show is based on, can look forward to another show based on one of Kirkman’s comics.

It’s been officially announced that a full series order has been given to the supernatural horror-drama Outcast, which will air on the HBO-owned Cinemax. The order is for ten episodes, and Adam Wingard (You’re Next, The Guest) directed the pilot episode. Kirkman penned the pilot’s screenplay himself.

The show stars Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous, Gone Girl) as Kyle Barnes, a man whose family has been involved in demonic possessions his entire life. With the help of a preacher who also has personal demons named Reverend Anderson, Barnes is on a mission to find answers and regain the normal life he once had. While on his quest, he makes a discovery that could change his and the entire world’s fate forever.

For this week’s edition of The Digital Wire we’ve got a slim selection of offbeat titles from the film and television domains, including one influential horror classic. Below you’ll find info on several future home video releases complete with technical specs, release dates, and links to pre-order at Amazon. We would greatly appreciate it if you use those links to order because a small percentage of each order helps keep this website running at max power. The cover art for certain titles has yet to be finalized.

V/H/S/2
Netflix | Amazon | Google Play | iTunes | SEN | Vudu | Xbox | YouTube
DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Simon Barrett, Jason Eisener, Gareth Huw Evans, Gregg Hale, Eduardo Sánchez, Timo Tjahjanto, Adam Wingard
Starring Fachry Albar, Oka Antara, Lawrence Michael Levine, Mindy Robinson, Jay Saunders, Adam Wingard
Bloody Disgusting
Originally Released: January 19, 2013

Just in time for Halloween, Netflix has updated its line of horror movies, and I was thrilled to see V/H/S/2 had been added to their selections. Having thoroughly enjoyed the first anthology collection of found-footage horror stories, I was surprised to find that not only is the sequel superior to the original in all senses, but far more skin-crawling and overtly chilling. This is the perfect movie for Halloween!

Like V/H/S, the sequel is a collection of short macabre stories, all depicted in the found-footage style, with an overarching story / frame narrative that takes place in between each story; and actually continues the frame narrative of the first film. In fact, I believe it to be a prequel to that – the original frame narrative is titled “TAPE 56,” while this one is “TAPE 49.”

V/H/S
Netflix | Amazon | Google Play | iTunes | SEN | Vudu | YouTube
DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg
Starring Calvin Reeder, Hannah Fierman, Joe Swanberg, Norma C. Quinones, Helen Rogers, Chad Villella
BloodyDisgusting.com / Magnet Releasing
Originally Released: January 22, 2012

Combining Creepshow with Paranormal Activity, V/H/S is an anthology horror film, comprised of 5 stories and the bumper frame narrative that ties everything together, telling the tales via "found footage" format. The conceptualization is to take a step back and explore the realm of VHS tape, the domain in which horror dominated during the 1980’s, but is more a mish-mash of an assortment of mediums.

Bridging each of the separate tales is an ongoing narrative that ties them together. A number of young men involved in varying criminal activities (some unbelievable) begin filming their escapades, and take on a high paying job to retrieve a VHS tape from a house. While there, they discover the corpse of an old man”¦ and hundreds of tapes. As they search and gather all of the tapes, some of the tapes get played, forming the anthological display of the stories.

You’re Next
Director: Adam Wingard
Screenwriter: Simon Barrett
Cast: Sharni Vinson, AJ Bowen, Nicholas Tucci, Wendy Glenn, Joe Swanberg, Barbara Crampton, Amy Seimetz, Ti West
Lionsgate Films
Rated R | 91 Minutes
Release Date: August 23, 2013

Coined by Carol J. Clover in her 1992 book Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film, the “Final Girl” is a popular trope in horror films that refers to the last woman alive to fight the killer.

Sally Hardesty from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre; Ellen Ripley in Alien; Halloween‘s Laurie Strode; Heather Langenkamp’s Nancy from A Nightmare on Elm Street – all of these are resilient women who are masculinized through “phallic appropriation” by taking up a weapon, like a knife or chainsaw, against their would-be killer.

The “Final Girl” convention forces the male audience to identify with a female character in a male-oriented genre associated with exploitation, voyeurism, and brutality. Think about horror movies – slasher films in particular – how many of them end with a lone male survivor?

If you haven’t read Clover’s book, I would highly recommend it, as it raises some interesting questions about the nature of horror films and their relationship to feminism. It seems that for a horror film to be successful, it’s necessary for the surviving character to be female – even if she is masculinized.

This brings us to Adam Wingard‘s latest film, You’re Next. Written by Simon Barrett, You’re Next isn’t interested in deconstructing the horror genre or mocking its tropes, but rather reinvigorating them. The “Final Girl” is resurrected in the form of Erin (Sharni Vinson), a survivalist who fights a gang of axe-wielding psychopaths in creepy animal masks.