Hi, fiends! I hope you’re having a great weekend. I’ve some interesting bits of horror news this week, but before we begin, I’d like to point out that two days ago, on Friday the 13th, under a full moon, we had two horror films written and directed by women with female leads, released on the same day. That’s some awesome witchy shit right there. Respect. My review of the Soska Sister’s Rabid went live on Friday and you can read it HERE and I’ve got some thoughts on Black Christmas, from Sophia Takal and April Wolfe below. Let’s get into it…
First up some casting news; Punk/metal icon Glen Danzig has Devon Sawa starring in his upcoming vampire spaghetti western, Death Rider. Sawa is perhaps best known to horror fans as Alex Browning in 2000’s Final Destination. Apparently, Death Rider, hot on the heels of this year’s Verotika, Danzig’s directorial debut, has already wrapped shooting. Danzig was heavily inspired by the golden age of Italian or spaghetti westerns, like A Fistful of Dollars and Django and crafted a bloody vampire epic filled with special cameos. I don’t see a release date yet, but I’d expect it sometime mid-year, probably hitting some film festivals like Verotika, which itself still hasn’t been released officially, but hasn’t exactly garnered rave reviews. Still though, knowing that Danzig was heavily influenced by European cinema for both films, and the fact that I’m a die-hard Misfits fan, I’m looking forward to both-critics be damned. And since there’s no trailer for either film, here’s Danzig with Samhain at the Starwood in 1984 or 85…
Joe Hill’s comic book Locke and Key, which has been in development hell for years, is finally becoming a reality at Netflix. The story follows a mother and her three children who move into the old family home, Keyhouse, after the father is mysteriously murdered. The children find a series of magic keys, which unlocks a spiralling mystery of demonic proportions. I never read past the first volume of the trade paperback, but I did enjoy that whole volume and it was my introduction to Hill’s work. Hill has really been getting around this year, with a new line of horror comics at DC, a new book, and AMC’s adaptation of his novel N0S4A2 into an excellent series. In case you didn’t know, Joe Hill is the son of Stephen King. As of now, the King family domination of screens big and small doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon. Locke and Key hits Netflix on February 7th, 2020. Here’s a trailer for the unaired pilot from 2011, to give you a sense of what its about.
Steven Moffat and Mark Gattis, the creators of the BBC’s Sherlock have created a three-episode adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, starring Claes Bang as the Count. With each episode clocking in at 90 minutes, the series premieres on January 1st, 2020 on the BBC and then it comes to Netflix on January 4th. The trailer looks great and it feels like a long time since I was excited about a Dracula film. Side note; this is the 1,113th adaptation of Dracula, which just trails behind Frankenstein with like 1,117 adaptations and I don’t hear any cries of derision from the same folks who are currently soiling their pants over a second Black Christmas remake…so when people bring up misogyny, shit, they may have a point, bro.
Speaking of Black Christmas, if you ever needed a reason to go out and support a film, some douche bag punched a cinema screen to show his distaste for feminism in horror. What a snowflake! Punched a screen?? That’s embarrassing. Get some perspective and seek help for your anger management. Perhaps get some introspection and figure out why you’re so mad at a movie that takes on campus rape culture without mincing words. Also, I’m pretty sure from the trailer he knew he wouldn’t like the film, but was so desperate for attention, he made a big public show of his insecurities. Wow. This is where we are, kids. This is fucking where we are. Black Christmas from Blumhouse is now in theatres.
