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After taking a look back at House II: The Second Story (a favorite of mine since childhood), House of 1000 Corpses (which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year), the awesomeness of Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight, the leg smashing in the Stephen King adaptation Misery, three separate moments from John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China, the “Jason vs. Tina” battle in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, the “all hell breaks loose” sequence from the start of Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake, the opening sequence of Pitch Black, a cool moment from The Crow, a memorable shark attack from Jaws 2, and a creepy moment from Lost Highway, JoBlo’s own Lance Vlcek is continuing his The Best Scene video series with a look at a scene from the 1990 slasher sequel Child’s Play 2 (watch it Here) – and if you’re familiar with that movie,...

David Lynch has been making movies since the 1960s, when he was an art student who wanted to see his paintings move. Since then, he’s become one of the most recognizable and beloved auteurs in cinema history, a filmmaker who enjoys remarkable success, given his idiosyncratic work.

Because Lynch’s work is so personal, it has long been difficult for critics and fans to reach a consensus regarding which is his very best work. Every single one of his movies and TV series has value, and each one strikes different people in different ways. Indeed, even this writer finds himself changing his own personal ranking from time to time.

Like Lynch himself, his works are impossible to categorize and, thus, near impossible to rank, but we’ve given a go in order to celebrate the filmmakers long and celebrated career. We’re looking back at both his movies and...

NewFest and the Brooklyn Academy of Music (Bam) have announced the fourth annual lineup for their “Queering the Canon” retrospective film series, this year subtitled “Besties.”

This year’s lineup of films screening at Bam in downtown Brooklyn (April 11 – 15) includes a 4K restoration of Rose Troche’s lesbian classic “Go Fish,” the world premiere of the 4K restoration of Brian Sloan’s queer romantic comedy “I Think I Do,” 35mm screenings of Gus Van Sant’s “My Own Private Idaho” and F. Gary Gray’s “Set It Off.” The “Go Fish” screening will be accompanied by a Q&a with Rose Troche in person along with star Guinevere Turner.

The repertory series was created by NewFest, co-curated by NewFest’s Nick McCarthy (director of programming) and Kim Garcia (technical director and programmer), and is presented in partnership with Bam.

The event will also include a panel discussion, “Best of the Besties,...

Director William Friedkin (who passed away earlier this year) made a lot of great films, including Best Picture winner The French Connection and one of the best horror movies ever made, The Exorcist. One you don’t hear referenced very often is the serial killer thriller Rampage, which had trouble making its way out into the world and was a project where Friedkin felt he had missed the mark, as the finished film wasn’t close enough to his original vision for it. But now Kino Lorber is showing Rampage some of the respect it’s been lacking over the decades, as Blu-ray.com reports they’ll be giving the film a 4K Uhd release sometime in early 2024.

Scripted by Friedkin and based on a novel of the same name by William P. Wood, Rampage delves into the subject of legal insanity, so often the default defense in modern-time gruesome crime trials.

The episode of Wtf Happened to This Horror Movie? covering The Grudge (2004) was Written and Narrated by Adam Walton, Edited by Juan Jimenez, Produced by Andrew Hatfield and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

If there was one thing the early noughties had in an abundance, especially within the horror genre, it was remakes. We were graced with reboots, or re-imaginings, whatever you want to call them, of the likes of Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead, The Hills Have Eyes, The Amityville Horror, House of Wax, Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake from 2007 and The Ring. However, despite the decent quality of those examples, well most of them, one thing that stands out in the film we’re focusing on today, The Grudge (watch it Here), is the fact that the original’s director, Takashi Shimizu, chose to also take on the remake. In 2002 the aforementioned The Ring,...

Happy #RobertEnglundDay!

About one third of the 150+ acting credits accumulated over the course of Robert Englund’s 50-year career fall under the horror genre. Screambox is streaming five of them, along with the all-new documentary, Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story.

Here are six Robert Englund movies you can watch on Screambox now…

Galaxy of Terror

Before moving to Elm Street, Englund went to space for 1981’s Galaxy of Terror, the first of two back-to-back Alien knock-offs produced by Roger Corman. The film follows a ragtag spaceship crew on a rescue mission to a barren planet, where they encounter a deadly creature. In a slight twist on Ridley Scott’s sci-fi/horror classic, Galaxy of Terror uses its victims’ own fears against them — which, incidentally, is similar to Freddy’s modus operandi.

Englund plays the ship’s second technical officer, Ranger, but he’s not the only notable...

This week brings the release of Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story on Screambox, coinciding with the horror mainstay’s 76th birthday on June 6. And we’re celebrating accordingly. That means you’ll find plenty of Englund-starring horror on Screambox, including recent additions like The Mangler and Night Terrors, as well as articles on Bloody Disgusting spotlighting the prolific actor’s work. Of course, this means that this week’s streaming picks are dedicated to some of Englund’s most unforgettable roles.

Here’s where you can stream these five titles this week.

And don’t forget.. we’re celebrating #RobertEnglundDay all day long on June 6!

For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.

A Nightmare on Elm Street – Screambox

No tour through Robert Englund’s filmography would be complete without the seminal slasher that spawned seven sequels, a remake, a television series, in-depth documentaries and novels, a ton of merchandise,...

A new episode of the Revisited video series has just been released, and in this one we’re looking back at a movie that some may not consider to be a horror movie, but at the very least it is an “experimental psychological thriller” from a highly respected genre director. The director in question is David Lynch, and the movie we’re talking about today is the 2006 release Inland Empire (get it Here). To revisit Inland Empire with us, check out the video embedded above.

Written and directed by Lynch, Inland Empire tells the following story over the course of its 180 minute running time: Nikki, an actress, takes on a role in a new film, and because her husband is very jealous, her co-star Devon gets a warning not to make any romantic overtures — especially since the characters they play are having an affair. Both actors learn that the project...

A new episode of The Manson Brothers Show, the video series hosted by the writers/stars of the horror comedy The Manson Brothers Midnight Zombie Massacre – Chris Margetis (Stone Manson) and Mike Carey (Skull Manson) – has just been released, and in this one the Boys are looking back at the 1981 sci-fi horror film Galaxy of Terror (watch it Here). To find out what they had to say about Galaxy of Terror, check out the video embedded above!

Directed by Bruce D. Clark, who wrote the script with Marc Siegler, and produced by Roger Corman, Galaxy of Terror has the following synopsis: As a lone spaceship proceeds on its long voyage across space, the crew are surprised to encounter a strange pyramid form. Surprise turns to horror as one by one, they discover that their darkest nightmares are all starting to become real. The pyramid has to be behind it all somehow,...

"Let's party!" Strand Releasing has debuted a 2K re-release trailer for a 90s indie dramedy titled Sparkler, made by filmmaker Darren Stein just before he would go on to direct Jawbreaker. It debuted at the 1997 Hamptons Film Festival, only getting a video release later in 1999, but not many people have heard of this. Melba is a Californian trailer-park girl who is said to look for three kings by a phone psychic, and when she meets three guys – Trent, Brad and Joel traveling to Las Vegas, she decides they are those kings and joins them on a trip. In Vegas she meets up with her old high school pal Dottie. The film stars Park Overall as Melba, with Freddie Prinze Jr., Jamie Kennedy, Steven Petrarca, Veronica Cartwright, Grace Zabriskie, Octavia Spencer, Frances Bay, Glenn Shadix, and Sandy Martin. This does not seem as fun as the other 90s classic Vegas comedy Swingers,...

Given that The Quarry is the latest horror game from the brilliant minds behind the modern genre classic Until Dawn, it should come as no surprise that the game’s cast is filled with horror character tropes voiced (and often motion-captured) by a lot of familiar names.

Indeed, part of the fun of playing a game like The Quarry comes from trying to figure out where you know so many of its cast members from. While a few names will jump out at you instantly, others most certainly fall into that “Oh yeah, I know them” category.

So if you’re tired of scratching your head over who is who in The Quarry, here’s a breakdown of the game’s cast of primary characters and where you might know their actors from.

Abigail Blyg – Voiced by Ariel Winter

Abigail is a shy and occasionally awkward camp counselor who seemingly aspires to be an artist.

David Lynch never goes out of style. Ask any artist who’s worked with him, from Laura Dern to Patricia Arquette, they’ll tell you the Missoula native and Eagle Scout is a master filmmaker and an empathetic collaborator, with anyone he hires willing to follow his strange star down the rabbit hole together. And so, more than 20 years later, we’re still talking about movies like “Mulholland Drive.” While actresses like Dern, Naomi Watts, Grace Zabriskie, and Sheryl Lee are often thought of as Lynch’s muses, there’s one woman without whom the entire David Lynch universe wouldn’t be the same: Rebekah Del Rio.

The three-octave singer from Chula Vista, California, famously renders Roy Orbison’s wallowing breakup ballad “Crying” as a glorious a capella epic in Spanish, “Llorando,” during a pivotal “Mulholland Drive” scene that serves as the bridge from fantasy to reality nightmare. At the...

Writer, artist, and director Dash Shaw’s adult animated fantasy film Cryptozoo is a morality play masquerading as a dark reflection of Jurassic Park. In that film, dinosaurs were brought back to life through DNA and put on display. Cryptozoo does the same with cryptids, which are mythological creatures who have teased mankind’s imagination since the dawn of civilization.

Cryptozoo is set in 1967 San Francisco, a time of civil unrest, disobedience and oppression, and the cryptids are facing the same kind of suppression as hippies like Amber (Louisa Krause) and Matthew (Michael Cera), but on a far more mythic level. Military minds want to weaponize the cryptids, putting them in a prison camp, while they study what makes these things tick. Well-meaning and animal loving zookeeper Joan (Grace Zabriskie) and her assistant Lauren Gray (Lake Bell), prefer they are kept in what they see as a Garden of Eden.

Dash Shaw’s counterfactual fantasy, a 1960s-set, nudity-filled sprawl about ‘cryptids’ and shady US agencies, is unique

Utterly bizarre in the best possible way, this lovingly handmade animated feature by writer-director Dash Shaw (originally a comic book/graphic novelist) isn’t like anything you’ve seen before. Unless, that is, you’ve seen Dash’s previous feature, My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea, a wacky work of wonder that does just what it says on the tin. Dash’s followup dives deeper into a world of counterfactual fantasy, one drenched in a nostalgia for the hippy values of the 1960s that could only come from someone too young to have actually lived through the era. But while a certain disarming naivety infuses the work, it nevertheless packs an evocative punch, with a moral message about intolerance and the need to protect more vulnerable species. It’s also one...

Hulu’s limited series about Mike Tyson, Iron Mike, is rounding out its cast.

The eight-episode series, which stars Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight) as the former heavyweight champion, has added Harvey Keitel, Laura Harrier, Grace Zabriskie, Olunike Adeliyi and Tj Atoms to its cast. All will have recurring roles in the drama, which is currently in production.

Oscar nominee Keitel (Pulp Fiction, The Irishman) will play Cus D’Amato, Tyson’s first trainer, mentor and eventually adoptive father. Harrier (Netflix’s Hollywood) will play Robin Givens, the actress and Tyson’s first wife who is beautiful and outspoken.

Zabriskie (Twin Peaks, Big Love) plays Camille ...

Hulu’s limited series about Mike Tyson, Iron Mike, is rounding out its cast.

The eight-episode series, which stars Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight) as the former heavyweight champion, has added Harvey Keitel, Laura Harrier, Grace Zabriskie, Olunike Adeliyi and Tj Atoms to its cast. All will have recurring roles in the drama, which is currently in production.

Oscar nominee Keitel (Pulp Fiction, The Irishman) will play Cus D’Amato, Tyson’s first trainer, mentor and eventually adoptive father. Harrier (Netflix’s Hollywood) will play Robin Givens, the actress and Tyson’s first wife who is beautiful and outspoken.

Zabriskie (Twin Peaks, Big Love) plays Camille ...

"We can only greet the strange and unusual with love." Mubi in the UK has debuted another official trailer for the psychedelic, mind-expanding hand-drawn animated film Cryptozoo, which initially premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. As cryptozookeepers struggle to capture a "Baku" (a legendary dream-eating hybrid creature) they begin to wonder if they should display these rare beasts in the confines of a cryptozoo or if these mythical creatures should remain hidden and unknown. With the voices of Lake Bell, Michael Cera, Alex Karpovsky, Zoe Kazan, Louisa Krause, Angeliki Papoulia, Thomas Jay Ryan, Peter Stormare, and Grace Zabriskie. We already featured two other trailers for this film earlier in the summer before it opened in the US (back in August), but with a European release from Mubi coming up in October, why not share some more footage. If you haven't seen this yet and you love psychedelics,...

The selections at this year’s North Bend Film Festival were (as usual) pretty great, but for me, Dash Shaw’s Cryptozoo was one of the biggest surprises of the fest. Full disclosure—I wasn’t really into it for the first 15 minutes. I didn’t dig the animation style and the opening sequence features two stoners who stumble up to a gigantic fence, climb it, find a unicorn, and then have the gall to touch it.

But then, we get into the story and it unfolds into something so much more magical and profound than I had expected. The animation grows more complex and detailed, taking on beautiful and deep colors. It’s a little psychedelic and a bit of an adventure story. Sometimes you really need to dig into a film to get its full impact, and this was one of those times for me. I was thrilled...

United Artists Releasing opens Flag Day, directed and starring Sean Penn, in a uneven specialty market where the Delta Variant spike has theaters in key cities requiring proof of vaccination, theaters are hard to book, and hits have been rare since the industry reopened.

Eventually “We’ll crack the code, because good movie and good stories win out.” said Erik Lomis, President, Distribution at Uar. Older demos — the meat-and-potatoes of arthouse — “are less comfortable coming back than we all hoped. It’s a tough, tough market to crack… but there’s nothing like seeing it in a movie theater.”

The film from MGM Studios premiered at Cannes and debuts in 24 theaters in 10 markets. It expands next weekend to 24 markets and 50 theaters. “We’ll continue to roll out like that until we really step on the gas depending upon market conditions,...

This review of “Cryptozoo” was first published after the film’s premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.

If you ever talk to an animator, they are likely to share two opinions very quickly: one, “Animation is not a genre.” And two, “Animation isn’t exclusively for children.” Dash Shaw is one of many contemporary artists expanding the idea of what animation can do, and who it can be for, and with his second feature, “Cryptozoo,” his well of imagination is matched only by his precision at executing his ideas.

“Cryptozoo” delivers on the promise of Shaw’s first feature, “My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea.” This time out, the writer-director (in collaboration with animation director Jane Samborski) is even more assured as both a storyteller and as a crafter of images, be they outrageous or gorgeous, haunting or hilarious.

Underneath it all, Shaw seems to revel in genre,...

"I dedicated my life to keeping Cryptids safe." Magnolia Pictures has released another official US trailer for the eccentric, psychedelic, wacky hand-drawn animated film Cryptozoo, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. This earned some rave reviews from various critics, mostly because it's insanely original and unlike anything you've ever seen before - the latest from the filmmaker behind the film My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea. As cryptozookeepers struggle to capture a "Baku" (a legendary dream-eating hybrid creature) they begin to wonder if they should display these rare beasts in the confines of a cryptozoo or if these mythical creatures should remain hidden and unknown. With the voices of Lake Bell, Michael Cera, Alex Karpovsky, Zoe Kazan, Louisa Krause, Angeliki Papoulia, Thomas Jay Ryan, Peter Stormare, and Grace Zabriskie. If you've been looking for movies that are unlike anything you have ever seen before - don't miss this one.

In the sea (one might say glut) of contemporary animation—a form that, by its very nature, is most often supported by the ever-watchful eye of major studios—breaths of fresh air are desperately needed. Directed by Dash Shaw, with animation direction from Jane Samborski, the sui generis Cryptozoo truly galvanized us at Sundance, our critic calling it “one of the most gorgeous works of American animation in ages.”

You’ll find that quote in the trailer Magnolia have released ahead of Cryptozoo‘s August 20 release. Having not seen the film myself, I’m rather jazzed by what’s here—ever shot offering something new to observe, a gorgeous score to boot. As Juan Barquin said, “With John Carroll Kirby’s haunting and seductive original music still playing in my head long after the credits have rolled, Cryptozoo has embedded itself into my mind. Every fascinating creature has been brought...

“Cryptozoo” broke out of the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year as one of the most innovative animated features of the year. Animator turned director Dash Shaw (“My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea”) builds a psychedelic world like you’ve never seen, envisioning hallucinatory creatures and casting voice talents Lake Bell, Zoe Kazan, Michael Cera, Louisa Krause, Peter Stormare, Thomas Jay Ryan, and Grace Zabriskie. Watch the exclusive official trailer for the film below.

A moving collage of rich, hand-drawn animation, where nearly every frame is a visual stunner, the film follows “cryptozookeepers through a richly drawn hallucinatory world as they struggle to capture a baku (a legendary dream-eating hybrid creature) and begin to wonder if they should display these rare beasts in the confines of a zoo, or if these mythical creatures should remain hidden and unknown,” according to the synopsis.

IndieWire’s Eric Kohn wrote that...

"Without dreams there can be no future..." Madman Films in Australia has released the first official trailer for the extremely funky, hand-drawn animated film Cryptozoo, which initially premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. It also stopped by this year's Berlin Film Festival, and is arriving in theaters starting in August. This earned some rave reviews, mostly because it's insanely original and unlike anything you've ever seen before - the latest from the filmmaker behind the film My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea. As cryptozookeepers struggle to capture a "Baku" (a legendary dream-eating hybrid creature) they begin to wonder if they should display these rare beasts in the confines of a cryptozoo or if these mythical creatures should remain hidden and unknown. This features the voices of Lake Bell, Michael Cera, Alex Karpovsky, Zoe Kazan, Louisa Krause, Angeliki Papoulia, Thomas Jay Ryan, Peter Stormare, and Grace Zabriskie.

Sundance Film Festival: London has revealed that “Zola” and “Coda” will be among the 2021 lineup, when the festival returns to Picturehouse Central next month.

“Coda” — an acronym meaning “Child of Deaf Adults” — features Marlee Matlin (“The West Wing”) and 19-year-old Emilia Jones (“Locke & Key”) navigating their relationship, while “Zola” is based on a 148-tweet viral Twitter thread from 2015 by Aziah “Zola” Wells. It stars Taylor Paige (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”) and Riley Keough (“Max Max: Fury Road”) and will close the 4-day festival.

Edgar Wright’s rockumentary “The Sparks Brothers,” described as a “musical odyssey,” opens the festival on July 29.

Other feature film offerings, which have been selected from the longer line-up shown at the Sundance Film Festival, include “The Nest,” starring Jude Law (“Sherlock Holmes”), animation “Cryptozoo,” which features Lake Bell (“BoJack Horseman”) and Michael Cera (“Arrested Development”), and documentary “Writing With Fire,” about a female-run Indian newspaper, which...

Dash Shaw’s animation won the Next Innovator award at Sundance.

The Match Factory has scored further deals on its Sundance hit Cryptozoo. The animated feature by Dash Shaw, which won the US festival’s Next Innovator Award, has gone to Spain (Filmin), Benelux (September Films) and Cis (Russian Report), with deals pending in the UK, Australia and Germany.

Magnolia Pictures acquired the US rights following its Sundance debut.

The film is Dash Shaw’s second feature after My Entire High School Sinking Into The Sea, which debuted at the 2016 AFI Fest and made its international premiere in Berlin’s Generation 14plus section,...

“Cryptozoo,” an animated film that premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and was quickly acquired by Magnolia, took over four years to make, mainly due to the different animation techniques used to craft the film.

“I love an early animator named Winsor McCay… and I saw an unfinished short he did called ‘The Centaurs,’ that was elegantly drawn and sophisticated and the fact that he never made this movie felt like there was something there,” writer and director Dash Shaw told Beatrice Verhoeven during TheWrap’s Sundance Studio presented by Nfp and National Geographic.

At the same time, he said, his animation director and wife Jane Samborski “ran an all-women’s ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ group in Brooklyn and I had to leave the apartment every time these people came over — Jane painted most of the cryptids in the movie.”

Samborski explained the “collaged process” of the film, saying, “we went...

Match Factory handles international sales.

Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights to Sundance animation Cryptozoo by Dash Shaw

Lake Bell, Zoe Kazan, Michael Cera, Louisa Krause, Peter Stormare, Thomas Jay Ryan, Grace Zabriskie and Angeliki Papoulia are among the voice cast.

Cryptozoo takes place in the 1960s and frames a war between the authorities who want to capture and weaponise a mythical creature, and those who seek to protect the fantastic beast and other cryptids in the titular establishment.

Shaw’s (My Entire High School Sinking Into The Sea) wife and collaborator Jane Samborski directed the animation.

Magnolia plans a 2021 release.

Dash Shaw’s animated fantasy film “Cryptozoo” has sold to Magnolia out of the Sundance Film Festival, with the distributor acquiring the film’s North American rights.

The film, which played in the Next section of Sundance, follows Cryptozookeepers who try to capture Baku, a dream-eating hybrid creature of legend, and debate whether they should display these creatures or keep them hidden from the world.

Lake Bell, Zoe Kazan, Michael Cera, Louisa Krause, Peter Stormare, Thomas Jay Ryan, Grace Zabriskie and Angeliki Papoulia all voice animated characters in the film. And Magnolia is planning to release “Cryptozoo” later this year.

“Cryptozoo” was written and directed by Shaw, who is also known for his film “My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea.” Jane Samborski directed the film’s hallucinatory animation, which critics have referred to as a blend of “Yellow Submarine” and “Jurassic Park.”

“‘Cryptozoo’ is a rare creature indeed...

“Cryptozoo,” the dazzling animated feature from cartoonist Dash Shaw, takes place in the past and feels like it hails from another dimension. At the same time, in its hectic blend of a colorful, imaginative universe and evil forces stacked against it, the movie has a unique connection to the modern era. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the opening minutes, when a pair of ‘60s-era hippies (voiced by Louisa Krause and Michael Cera) wander the woods, and one shares a dreams of storming the Capitol to reboot society. His partner is skeptical. “Utopias never work out,” she says.

In Shaw’s — a cluttered symphony of erratic line drawings, psychedelic colors, and recycled genre tropes galore — that sentiment looms large. “Cryptozoo” is all over the place, but it’s a total joy to immerse in Shaw’s expansive look at conflicting worldviews and environmentalist feats, bound together in a delightful...

When director Dash Shaw and animation director Jane Samborski sat down years ago to start mapping out what would become the new film “Cryptozoo” they knew almost immediately their process needed to change. After working together on “My Entire High School Is Sinking Into the Sea” using sheets of paper to organize the acclaimed animated feature, the married couple found the same tactics untenable for their expansive new project.

“It was catastrophic,” Samborski tells Gold Derby. “There were Post-Its everywhere. So we stopped production and took a step back and built out a spreadsheet. Most of our creative interaction happened mediated by this wonderful spreadsheet.”

As Shaw explains, that allowed him to pass along notes to Samborski without having to “directly complain” to his partner.

“I think we should move into this for all areas,” he jokes.

“It’s a marriage lifehack,” Samborski says.

See Our full coverage of Sundance 2021

Set in the 1960s,...

The current state of American animated cinema is more than a little disappointing; Pixar, Disney, Dreamworks, and more regurgitate the same formula and offer nothing new but a juxtaposition of cartoon designs and hyper-realistic imagery; animation for adults is all too rare. When something like Dash Shaw and Jane Samborski’s Cryptozoo comes along, it’s easy to recognize as one of the most gorgeous works of American animation in ages.

There is a willingness to experiment with animation and layers that is present from the very first frames of Cryptozoo that makes it immediately captivating. One simply watches two hippies roaming through the forest, engaging in their erotic and philosophical musings, without the realization that something so small and dark and intimate will explode into a psychedelic adventure that asks an important question: can humans and cryptids ever truly co-exist in peace?

As amusing as the notion of potentially...

It is the 1960s and a loved-up, blazed-up hippie couple, sketched in itchy black lines, have snuck into the monochrome nighttime woods to swap bodily fluids and woozy observations on life. Naked and stoned and mumbling about revolutions, they happen on a tall fence and climb it, entering, unbeknownst to them, the “Cryptozoo” of animators Dash Shaw and Jane Samborski’s combined imagination: a place in which griffins and winged horses keep company with will o’ the wisps, dragons and a startled unicorn.

If the sex and politics (complete with doubtless accidental but nonetheless yoinks-worthy reference to “storming the Capitol”) make this gorgeously psychedelic illustrated adventure appear more adult than the filmmakers’ 2016 debut, “My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea,” it’s slightly misleading. The drawing style is more mature — the lines slenderer, the transitions more inventive, the watercolored hues richer and more strange, featuring mottled mossy greens, dusky pinks and cloudy blues.

Voice cast includes Lake Bell and Michael Cera.

Leading German sales company The Match Factory has acquired international rights to Dash Shaw’s Cryptozoo, a feature animation set to receive its world premiere at Sundance this week.

The hand-drawn animation marks the second feature of US comic-book artist and writer Shaw, whose distinctive debut My Entire High School Sinking Into The Sea premiered at Toronto in 2016 and went on to screen at the Berlinale.

His follow-up is a fantastical, psychedelic feature set amid the counterculture of the 1960s, with a voice cast led by Lake Bell and Michael Cera. It...

The 2021 Sundance Film Festival, beginning Thursday, will look quite different. Forging ahead during the pandemic, they’ve to continue offering some of the year’s finest independent discoveries, with a new online platform, drive-ins, screenings at independent arthouses around the country, and more.

We’ll have extensive coverage from the festival (which one can follow here or on Twitter). Before reviews arrive, we’re counting down our most-anticipated films. If you’re interested in experiencing Sundance from home, one can see available tickets here.

15. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (Jane Schoenbrun)

Year after year, Sundance’s Next section offers independent cinema’s most compelling new voices; one that’s caught our eye is Jane Schoenbrun’s We’re All Going to the World’s Fair. Shot by Daniel Patrick Carbone and scored by Alex G, it follows a teenager (Anna Cobb) whose reality begins blurring when she plays an online horror role-playing game.

While this year's Sundance Film Festival will be experienced differently in the era of Covid-19 (with virtual screenings taking place online and in-person screenings taking place with safety precautions in select theaters across the country), the cinema celebration will continue to highlight vital, impactful, and innovative creators behind and in front of the camera, with more than 70 feature films included in the festival's full lineup.

We've highlighted some of the genre films horror fans can look forward to from the official press release below. Stay tuned to Daily Dead for our upcoming coverage of the festival (taking place January 28th–February 3rd), and visit Sundance's website for more details.

World Cinema Dramatic Competition

The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet / Argentina — Sebastian, a man in his thirties, works a series of temporary jobs and he embraces love at every opportunity. He transforms, through a series of short encounters, as the world flirts with possible apocalypse.

David Lynch’s demented crime fantasy Wild At Heart was unleashed upon an unsuspecting nation 30 years ago today. A violent, angry road trip romance, Wild At Heart boasts stars stemming from three cinematic powerhouse families — Nicolas Cage (a Coppola), Laura Dern (daughter to Corman and Dante stalwart Bruce) plus her real-life mother Diane Ladd, and, in a supporting role, Isabella Rossellini (daughter to Golden Age star Ingrid Bergman and the neorealist helmer Roberto Rossellini). Lynch gives his eccentric cast, ranging from generational Hollywood royalty to reliable character actor weirdos Harry Dean Stanton, Willem Dafoe, Crispin Glover and Grace Zabriskie, full license to let their freak flags fly with some truly wild set pieces.

With a script by Lynch adapted from the 1989 novel by Barry Gifford, Wild At Heart tells the tale of young star-crossed North Carolina lovers (and thrash metal connoisseurs) Sailor Ripley (Cage), a noble blue collar troublemaker with an Elvis complex,...

"I think you're all in danger." Vertical Entertainment has released a brand new trailer for the horror film Polaroid, director by Norwegian filmmaker Lars Klevberg. This was originally set to open in August of 2017, but the film got caught up in all the Weinstein chaos, and never got a release. Now it's set to open this year all around the world, finally a chance for it to hit theaters. The story is about a high schooler who finds an old Polaroid camera, and anyone who gets their picture taken by it will die in a "violent and tragic death." That creepy creature thing / dude that shows up looks terrifying. The film stars Kathryn Prescott, Mitch Pileggi, Grace Zabriskie, Tyler Young, Keenan Tracey, Samantha Logan, Priscilla Quintana, Madelaine Petsch and Javier Botet. This is based on the horror short Polaroid also from director Lars Klevberg. The new trailer is still mostly unsettling,...

David Lynch's The Elephant Man (1980) and Inland Empire (2006) are showing July and August on Mubi in the United Kingdom.“I am convinced we are all voyeurs. It’s part of the detective thing. We want to know secrets and we want to know what goes on behind those windows.” —David Lynch, interviewed by Newsday, March 9, 1997Whether or not you feel comfortable attaching the word horror to the universe of David Lynch depends on your receptiveness to the sort of terror that springs from the uncanny, from the moment familiar objects and situations take on the sinister glow of foreign, threatening things. To defend Lynch’s horror credentials is to embark in an act of taxonomical defence. For a genre that’s often seen to meddle with and grow alongside the thriller, Lynch’s version further obfuscates the distinction, conjuring up a hybrid that sits in between the two. Horror,...

Network: Netflix.

Episodes: 30 (half-hour).

Seasons: Three.

TV show dates: February 3, 2017 — March 29, 2019.

Series status: Cancelled.

Performers include: Drew Barrymore, Timothy Olyphant, Liv Hewson, Skyler Gisondo, Richard T. Jones, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Ricardo Chavira, Ramona Young, Joy Osmanski, Thomas Lennon, Natalie Morales, Kaylee Bryant, Andy Richter, Jee Young Han, Zachary Knighton, Grace Zabriskie, Deobia Oparei, Portia de Rossi, Adam Rose, Nathan Fillion, and Patton Oswalt.

TV show description:

A horror-comedy from creator Victor Fresco, the Santa Clarita Diet TV show centers on Sheila and Joel Hammond (Barrymore and Olyphant). This suburban couple sells real estate and lives with their teen daughter, Abbey (Hewson), in Santa Clarita, CA, outside of Los Angeles.

The...

Hot Streets Season 2 walks the beat and extinguishes supernatural crime by perfecting on an already solid formula.

This Hot Streets Season 2 review contains no spoilers.

"Never forget what Hot Streets is really about..."

"It's about solving cases, Bye!"

Television shows can sometimes get attacked for being “random” with their storytelling or comedy, but it’s actually quite difficult to be effectively random. There’s an art to surprising your audience with a complete left turn, yet one that’s not so disconnected or weird that it will alienate viewers.

The same can be said for parodies that take established structures and turn them on their head and breathe fresh life into traditional tropes. Many programs on Adult Swim follow this formula to some degree, but last year the first season of Hot Streets proved that it was particularly special.

It’s simultaneously brilliant and idiotic, but now that it’s...

Dwayne Johnson is back as Spencer Strasmore in one of HBO’s highest rated comedies, Ballers: The Complete Fourth Season, available for Digital Download on November 5th. Exploring the glamorous, and often cutthroat world of pro football, the fourth season features new guest stars including Russell Brand (Get Him to the Greek), Tony Hawk, Joy Bryant (Parenthood), Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters), Grace Zabriskie (Big Love) and more.

In Ballers: The Complete Fourth Season, Spencer (Johnson) and Joe Krutel (Rob Corddry) are back at it, and this time the unstoppable duo are bringing the hustle to Los Angeles to expand their empire. Meanwhile, Ricky (John David Washington) eyes a comeback while chafing at his new life as a father; Charles (Omar Benson Miller) faces the challenges of being a general manager; Vernon (Donovan Carter) continues his profligate ways, to the chagrin of his sidekick, Reggie (London Brown); and Jason (Troy Garity) tries...

Exclusive: We are hearing from multiple sources that Lars Klevberg’s horror title Polaroid, formerly a Dimension Films release, is headed to Netflix in an all rights acquisition deal.

The paperwork isn’t completely signed yet as it will take some time to work through with Netflix taking the title from TWC’s new owner Lantern Entertainment.

Polaroid follows high school loner Bird Fitcher, who has no idea what dark secrets are tied to the mysterious vintage Polaroid camera she stumbles upon. But it doesn’t take long to discover that those who have their picture taken meet a tragic end. The pic was written by Blair Butler (Hell Fest) and stars Kathryn Prescott, Tyler Young, Grace Zabriskie and Mitch Pileggi. Roy Lee produces through his Vertigo Entertainment label with Chris Bender also producing. Klevberg is repped by Bender’s Good Fear Film + Management and Wme. Butler is represented by ICM,...

The return of “Twin Peaks” to Showtime was met with much fanfare after its 25-plus-year hiatus off the air. Sadly, its reception among the Academy was not as warm when it came to the major categories. Thursday morning, it was shut out of major races, including in all the acting categories.

That meant that Kyle MacLachlan was snubbed for his portrayal of three different characters — Agent Cooper (as Dougie), the evil Mr. C, and Dougie himself — and Laura Dern’s dramatic turn as Diane was overlooked (although the Academy did honor her with a nod for “The Tale.”) While those are the most egregious omissions, many more cast members were also worthy of nominations, among them are Catherine E. Coulson as the late, great Log Lady and Grace Zabriskie as Sarah Palmer. Alas, that also means that David Lynch wasn’t recognized for his role of Gordon Cole.

It wasn...

“Twin Peaks: The Return” should be a shoe-in for numerous Emmy nominations given it was one of 2017’s best reviewed pieces of entertainment, but David Lynch’s polarizing style means the show isn’t the lock it should be this year. IndieWire’s Emmy expert Ben Travers has the series listed as a major contender for nominations in races like Outstanding Limited Series, Actor in a Limited Series (Kyle MacLachlan), and Supporting Actress (Laura Dern), but every “Twin Peaks” fan knows three nominations won’t cut it — nor is anything a guarantee.

In this year’s acting races for limited series, Showtime is throwing its weight behind MacLachlan and Dern and launching campaigns for actors such as Naomi Watts and David Lynch, among others. However, “The Return” is filled with so many memorable actors giving some of the best performances of their careers that Emmy voters ought to look below...

1933: One Man's Family expanded to a national audience.

1979: Delia loaned Johnny money on Ryan's Hope. 1988: Atwt's

Hal and Barbara celebrated on the night before their wedding.

1994: Gh's Felicia learned Maxie would get B.J.'s heart."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."

― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1933: Radio soap opera One Man's Family expanded from being broadcast on the west coast only to the full nationwide NBC network.

The Death of Stalin actress, Andrea Riseborough, is to join Alien: Covenant’s Demián Bichir in Sony Pictures’ reboot of the 2004 horror, The Grudge.

Related: Exclusive: Andrea Riseborough talks Battle of the Sexes, meeting Billie Jean King and chemistry with Emma Stone

The project, which is due to start filming in may sets The Eyes of My Mother director, Nicolas Pesce, to direct and write the screenplay. Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert will produce for Ghost House, with Nathan Kahane and Erin Westerman executive producing for Good Universe alongside Schuyler Weiss, Roy Lee, and Doug Davison.

“We are so excited about this new adaptation,” Raimi said. “We went back to the original source material to deliver a relentless supernatural thrill ride that explores the horrors of American suburbia.”

Also in the news – Ava DuVernay to delve into the Dcu taking the helm on The New Gods

The 2004 version – which was directed by Takashi Shimizu,...

With Halloween only two weeks away now, that means we have another killer batch of home entertainment releases arriving this Tuesday, primed to get everyone in the mood for the macabre. Cult film lovers should get those wallets ready, as Kino Lorber is keeping busy with The Terror Within II, Revenge of the Dead, and a 4K special edition of RawHead Rex, too.

For those who still venture out into the real world to make their media purchases, Target has the exclusive on season one of Stranger Things that comes in nifty retro packaging, and Criterion has put together a stellar Blu for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

Other notable releases for October 17th include American Gods: Season One, Wes Craven’s Summer of Fear, Red Christmas, Spider-Man: Homecoming, The Honor Farm, and Alfred Hitchcock: The Ultimate Collection.

American Gods: Season One (Lionsgate, Blu-ray & DVD)

When...

As readers of R.L. Stine's Say Cheese and Die! books in his Goosebumps series know, not all old cameras can be trusted, and some can even be deadly. Such is the case in Dimension Films' upcoming horror film Polaroid, which now has a December 1st release date, several months later than its original August 25th slot.

"From the producers of the The Ring and The Grudge and based on the award-winning short by Lars Klevberg, comes the next iconic and bold new vision in horror: Polaroid. High school loner Bird Fitcher has no idea what dark secrets are tied to the mysterious Polaroid vintage camera she stumbles upon, but it doesn’t take long to discover that those who have their picture taken meet a tragic end."

Directed by Lars Klevberg and produced by Roy Lee and Chris Bender, Polaroid stars Kathryn Prescott (Finding Carter), Mitch Pileggi (The X-Files...

Vulture Watch What will become of Agent Cooper? Has the Twin Peaks TV show been cancelled or renewed for a fourth season on Showtime? The television vulture is watching all the latest cancellation and renewal news, so this page is the place to track the status of Twin Peaks season four. Bookmark it, or subscribe for the latest updates. Remember, the television vulture is watching your shows. Are you?  What's This TV Show About? A supernatural serial drama on the Showtime premium cable channel, the Twin Peaks TV show revival is a continuation of the original 1990s ABC TV series. Also known as Twin Peaks: The Return, the horror mystery centers on the return of idiosyncratic FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan). The large cast also includes Mädchen Amick, Dana Ashbrook, Everett McGill, Kimmy Robertson, Russ Tamblyn, Ray Wise, Grace Zabriskie, Amy...