Horror Movies

“One of Our Planets is Missing” by original series director Marc Daniels is another superb early episode of Filmation’s Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973 – 1974). The episode is not only true to Star Trek’s spirit of adventure and decency in the face of dangerous alien contact, but forward-looking in its approach to its subject matter. The episode also maintains remarkable continuity with the established Trek universe. In “One of Our Planets is Missing” a “huge cosmic cloud” moves into the "outer fringe of the galaxy.” This cloud is a “strange combination of matter and energy” and quickly consumes an uninhabited planet. Worse, it is on a direct course for a world of eighty million colonists: Mantilles. Captain Kirk (William Shatner) orders the Enterprise to investigate, and takes the ship inside the strange cloud. Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Dr. McCoy (De Forest Kelley) soon realize that the cloud is alive, and possibly intelligent. Spock likens the space-going organism to a “bull grazing in the pasture of the universe,” a bull who may be unaware that it is harming other life-forms. With only hours remaining before Mantilles is consumed by the cloud, Captain Kirk must consider destroying the organism’s brain, but Spock attempts a Vulcan “mind-touch” and contacts the alien being in hopes of reaching some kind of agreement. He allows the cloud entity to see life through his eyes, and recognize that it is destroying life-forms with its basic, biological behavior. The alien understands Spock’s message of peace and cooperation, and pledges to return to its “origin place” outside the galaxy. “One of Our Planets is Missing” charts the Enterprise’s encounter with a mysterious space cloud, a sort of scintillating alien rendezvous that would recur, with some variation, in films such as Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) and episodes such as Star Trek: Voyager’s “The Cloud.” Here, the cloud is not cloaking a vast life-form (as is the case in the first movie), but is an actual life-form unaware that its behavior may be interpreted as hostile. In the best tradition of Star Trek stories, this alien -- once it learns of its behavior – seeks a peaceful end to the crisis. No phasers are fired. No punches are thrown. With its female voice (provided by the late Majel Roddenberry), the Cloud here also evokes memories of another benevolent cloud being, the Companion from the episode “Metamorphosis.” In "One of Our Planets is Missing," Spock uses the Vulcan mind-touch to give the cloud a sense of humanoid life, a development which recalls not only “Metamorphosis” (and Commissioner Hedford) but some moments in the third season Star Trek episode “Is There in Truth No Beauty?” Here, however, the entity in Spock’s body not only gets to “feel” and “touch” human life, but through a video presentation on a view screen, gazes at human life on Earth. It sees cities, children playing and other aspects of our existence. In terms of continuity, “One of Our Planets is Missing” is rather amazing, especially for a Saturday morning production in 1973. Kirk contacts the governor of Mantilles, Bob Wesley, a character seen in live-action in the second season episode “The Ultimate Computer.” We learn that Wesley left Starfleet for politics, and now lives on Mantilles with his eleven-year old daughter, Katie. This is a great character touch that connects the animated series to its live-action predecessor, and not in a gimmicky or exploitative way. Also in “One of Our Planets is Missing,” Kirk grapples with the necessity of killing the cloud to save the population of Mantilles, and verbally references his speech from “A Taste of Armageddon” about deciding “not to kill…today.” It’s a deliberate call-back to a great (and under-appreciated episode), and also a good re-assertion of Kirk’s essential humanity.

The Peter Cushing Centennial Blogathon : Day One

Looking forward to Season 6 of "True Blood" but maybe a little hazy on what exactly went down in Season 5? Well, nip that short-term memory loss problem in the bud with this nifty five-minute recap video courtesy of HBO. Season 6 picks up immediately after last year's bloody finale, which found Sookie (Anna Paquin) and Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) attempting to escape a very scary--and very naked--Bill (Stephen Moyer, who also directed the premiere episode). Joining the "True Blood" regulars this year are guest stars Rutger Hauer, Arliss Howard, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rob Kazinsky, Karolina Wydra, Luke Grimes, and Amelia Rose Blaire. Related Story: New "True Blood" Season 6 Teaser Home to Governor Burrell's Anti-Vamp Tirade; #ShowYourFangs Campaign Launches The battle between humans and vampires begins on June 16th at 9PM, when "True Blood" Season 6 premieres. Tweet or Instagram a photo of yourself using #ShowYourFangs to tell the world that you stand with the bloodsuckers. Visit ShowYourFangs.com for more info. For more info visit "True Blood" on HBO.com, "like" "True Blood" on Facebook, and jump in on the Twitter conversations here using the hashtag #trueblood. VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON! Got news? Click here to submit it! Show us your fangs in the comments section below!

Reviewer Rating: 7 Rating #: 7/10 Director: Andres Muschietti Runtime: 100 minutes Cast: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Jessica Chastain, Megan Charpentier, Isabelle Nelisse Overall: This is an effective supernatural chiller that offers a lot of solid creepy scenes in the first half, but kind of falls apart towards the end due to the overexposure of the CG'd Mama character. However, it was an integral part in the climax, so I won't entirely fault it for that, especially since I really liked the unique concept behind the story. If you're looking for a creepy solid ghost flick with a good pace and semi-creative storyline then give this a look. Mama is based on a successful short film with the same name from director Andrés Muschietti. The short actually caught the attention of Guillermo Del Toro, who helped put the project together and turn it into a full length feature and with good reason, as the flick is a surprisingly effective chiller for the first half, but falls victim to some iffy CG and a little too much Mama exposure with the remaining half. The flick starts off with a father attempting to flee the police after murdering his wife. He grabs his two young girls and makes for a daring escape, but in the process finds the car veering off the road and into the nearby wilderness. Hurt and bleeding, the man roams the woods with his daughters until coming across a secluded broken down cabin. Seeking shelter they make their way inside, never to be seen again... read more

Good news has arrived for fans of the Vampire Hunter D series: A new novel by famed horror/sci-fi author Hideyuki Kikuchi entitled Noble V: Greylancer is now available, which details the beginning of the 3,000-year war of Vampire Hunter D. From the Press Release: VIZ Media’s Haikasoru literary imprint delivers a bloodthirsty new chapter of the legendary Vampire Hunter D saga with the North American release of Noble V: Greylancer, now available in stores. The new fantasy novel by Hideyuki Kikuchi, carries an MSRP of $14.99 U.S./$16.99 CAN. The release also includes a bonus novelette titled "An Irreplaceable Existence.” An eBook edition is also available for the Amazon Kindle and from Apple’s iBooks Store and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Books Store. Internationally acclaimed writer Hideyuki Kikuchi, author and creator of the famed novel series Vampire Hunter D, delves into the past with his latest addition, Noble V: Greylancer. It is the year 7000 by Noble reckoning, and the vampire rulers of the world have grown complacent. When the Outer Space Beings (OSBs) invade, the Noble warrior Greylancer must pit his skills and magic against the technology of the OSBs, quash an anti-Noble rebellion, and, when he is critically injured, turn to mere humans for help. The Three Thousand Year War of Vampire Hunter D begins here! “Hideyuki Kikuchi is one of Japan's top horror and science fiction authors in the proud tradition of Robert Bloch, Fritz Leiber, H.P. Lovecraft, and Stephen King. His Vampire Hunter D setting has been attracting fans in the U.S. for more than twenty years,” says Nick Mamatas, Haikasoru’s editor. “Noble V: Greylancer reveals the mysterious history of the Nobility and follows the exploits of the powerful Noble warrior Greylancer as pushes his own immortality to the limit. Kikuchi is an ardent fan of many classic horror tropes, and his new novel exquisitely combines the danger and violence of traditional literary vampires with the nobility and dark attraction of modern vampire iconography.” Hideyuki Kikuchi was born in 1949 in Chiba, Japan, and, inspired by the work of writers such as H.P. Lovecraft, he began writing supernatural fiction in the early 1980s. His first novel, Demon City Shinjuku, debuted in 1982. Horror films, most notably 1958’s The Horror of Dracula, had a tremendous impact on Kikuchi and inspired him to create the legendary Vampire Hunter D series, which has spawned more than 17 novels and a host of novellas and related short stories. One of the world’s most prolific authors, Kikuchi has published over three hundred books and still produces multiple novels per year. He has enjoyed tremendous international success as a novelist, and much of his work has been also been adapted into manga and anime, including Vampire Hunter D, Wicked City, A Wind Named Amnesia, and Dark Wars: The Tale of Meiji Dracula. For more information on Noble V: Greylancer and the Haikasoru imprint, visit the dedicated Haikasoru website. VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON! Got news? Click here to submit it! Join other mere humans in the comments section below!

IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT NABS SHIVER CANNES, FR - May 24, 2013 - Image Entertainment, an RLJ Entertainment (NASDAQ: RLJE) brand, has acquired all U.S. rights to the Cyclone Productions, Inc./Robert Weinbach production thriller, Shiver. Directed by UK based, multi-film festival award-winner Julian Richards, UK’s multi film fest award winner, the film is based on the novel by New York Times best

OUTPOST III: RISE OF THE SPETSNAZ SELLS TO XLRATOR MEDIA Worldwide Sales Handled by CONTENT Closes Numerous International Territories CANNES, FR - May 24, 2013 - Content announced today that OUTPOST III: RISE OF THE SPETSNAZ has sold all US rights to XLrator Media, which successfully released OUTPOST II: BLACK SUN last year. Written by Rae Brunton, OUTPOST III: RISE OF THE SPETSNAZ

IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT ACQUIRES OUIJA BOARD THRILLER I AM ZOZO CANNES, FR - May 24, 2013 - Image Entertainment, an RLJ Entertainment (NASDAQ: RLJE) brand, has acquired U.S. rights to Scott Di Lalla’s Ouija board thriller I Am ZoZo from Outsider Pictures and One World Studios Ltd. The film was written and directed by documentarian Scott Di Lalla (Choppertown: The Sinners) and stars Kelly

IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS THE TWILIGHT ZONE: The Complete Second Season New Episode-Only Release Available at a Great Price! LOS ANGELES, CA - May 24, 2013 - Image Entertainment, an RLJ Entertainment (NASDAQ: RLJE) brand, announces the release of the second season of Rod Serling’s groundbreaking, science fiction anthology The Twilight Zone: The Complete Second Season, available on DVD

VERTICAL ENTERTAINMENT TAKES SCENIC ROUTE STARRING JOSH DUHAMEL U.S. Release Scheduled for August 2013 LOS ANGELES, CA - May 24, 2013 - Vertical Entertainment has acquired all U.S. rights to the thriller SCENIC ROUTE, starring Josh Duhamel (Safe Haven, Transformers 1,2, and 3) and Dan Fogler (Balls of Fury and Kung Fu Panda) at the 2013 Cannes International Film Festival. The film marks