#Here comes the Boogeyman (Mayhem)

[undiscovered-horizon]

Amendments II: The Panther and the Duckling - Kaz Brekker x Reader

[Part 1]

[vulgar language, canon-typical violence]

SUMMARY: The moment comes when Kaz gives you the opportunity to make amendments for the two thugs that started a fight at his club. He can only nod in appreciation at the mayhem you effortlessly cause.

WORDCOUNT: ~ 2.2k

[Grishaverse-inspired playlist]

Kaz didn’t quite know what to expect when walking towards your place. Would it be filled with riches? Or instead, kept plain and simple? How golden is the Golden Panther’s lair?

Despite having no expectations, he’s pretty surprised to see the interior of Albasten Vlam Casino. Creme and crimson furnishing along with gold chandeliers and brackets make the venue appear exclusive. A soft jazz tune carries through the venue, skilful hands of the pianist creating a neverending, atonal melody. The guests are also nothing short of lavish, losing in one game the same amount of money some citizens of Ketterdam earn in three months' time. It seems as though the entrance to the Albasten Vlam is a doorway into another realm, where poverty and disease are about as real as the boogeyman under a child’s bed.

Two Fjerdans, each roughly the size of a grange, eye Kaz suspiciously as he walks through the spacious halls. His common elegance looks almost offensive among the million-Kruge suits of the casino’s clientele. Even if he wasn’t a thief, the guards would still expect him to dabble in thievery - simply because of the way he looks compared to the other patrons.

Walking up short stairs and turning into backrooms and staff-only corridors, Kaz knows that he’s expected. Otherwise, why is no one stopping him? In fact, most of the employees don’t seem to pay him much mind.

The long hall decorated with statues and paintings ends in a two-wing pair of doors almost completely covered by the stocky bodies of bodyguards. One of them, covered in tattoos of Zemenian origin, laughs when Kaz approaches the door.

“Oi, boys!” the tattooed man yells to someone behind Kaz. He speaks with a heavy accent. “Would you look at this! Twee’y wans in.”

Kaz hears two sets of footsteps behind him. They’re not distinctively loud, those people aren’t carrying weapons.

“I came to speak with the Golden Panther,” Kaz states, unaffected.

“Like many did before ya and many will do after,” the guard answers. “Wha’eve’ ya have to say to me Boss, ya can say to me, Twee’y.”

“Very well,” Kaz says quietly. “I’m here to discuss the repayment of Panther’s debt for causing a fight in my club.”

The tattooed man gives his friend, who looks like his archenemy is the Sun, a meaningful look.  “Keep an eye on the lad, I’ll check in with Boss.” He goes to open the door but before he walks into your office, he makes sure to give Kaz the most annoyed expression a face can make.

A few minutes go by when no one makes a sound. The sickly pale guard barely blinks, keeping his watchful, grey eyes on Brekker. Whoever followed Kaz is still standing a few paces behind him, also remaining suspiciously quiet.

Kaz hates this feeling. He has to put his faith in your apparent reliability. Some people say that ‘there’s no honour among thieves’ and perhaps they’re right. But what honour could there be between a panther and a crow? Isn’t the only thing they can honour Mother Nature? The food chain?

Right when Kaz is about to give in to his fatalistic thoughts, the door opens once again and the tattooed man emerges from the room. His lips are kept in a thin line. The man appears to be dissatisfied with what he had learned but alas, there is nothing he can do about it.

“Today’s ya lucky day, Twee’y,” he speaks up, his voice bitter. “Pop in and behave yaself.”

Without another word, Kaz pushes past the tattooed guard and into the room.

Your office is furnished in a similar style as the rest of the casino: creme, crimson and gold. The first thing that Kaz notices, and pretty much anyone who walks in, is the taxidermied panther head hanging on the wall behind you. The motif of a panther is quite prevalent as the legs of your desk are also carved to resemble pouncing and roaring panthers.

Bright ringing chimes in his ears. He turns his head to the side only to notice a frail woman, if she is even old enough to be called that, typing away on a typewriter. Judging by the stack of papers next to her, she’s rewriting your letters and notes. Kaz makes a note of her clothing: the pigeon blue barely fits the interior design but the quality of the material and craftsmanship looks far too expensive for a typist. 

“Kaz Brekker in the fucking flesh,” you say aloud. His attention is once again focused on you. “Honestly, I wasn’t expecting you to show up in person.”

“An opportunity has arisen for you to repay me.”

“Tell me.” Your voice sounds disinterested as you look back down at whatever document you are signing. Kaz puts his gloved hand on the back of the chair in front of your desk but you’re quick to shut him down. “Nah, don’t sit,” you say without looking up.

It’s all a gimmick, he thinks, but she has the means to uphold it. The skill and power to make it real.

For a moment he considered sitting down against your will simply out of spite but he’s heard enough stories to not get in your bad books just to prove a point. Golden Panther is a name even Pekka Rollins would say with fear in his voice. Kaz has seen the damage you’ve done to Pekka - damage that even his title of “The King of the Barell” can not repair.

“I’m planning a job and I need a distraction,” Kaz explains. “There’s a brewery in town. Belongs to a man known as Magnus Molders. Your job is to destroy his business, thus drawing the Stadwatch away from me and my Crows.”

With a devilish smile on your face, you look up from the document and set your pen aside. “And what did little Maggie-boy do to you, Dirtyhands?”

“That is none of your concern.”

You give him a knowing nod.

“So, kill two birds with one stone,” you sum up. “Practical, effective, sends a message. Solid 6 out of 10. Lacking in the finesse department.” Half-jokingly, you shake your head with an expression of disappointment.

“I’m not interested in your appraisal,” Kaz retorts. “Magnus Molders’s brewery in two days' time. That’s your assignment if you want your debt erased.”

A scoff flies past your lips. “I’m rude, not stupid, Brekker,” you drone your words. “I’ll be there. Stadwatch won’t even catch a sniff of you. Here, let me walk you out.”

You stand up from your desk, grabbing the cane with the panther's head leaning against it. Although Kaz doesn’t want to admit it, hiding a blade inside the cane is an idea that has been growing on him. Practical, effective, sends a message, he hears your voice in his thoughts. 

Kaz follows you out and is immediately met with an obvious change of behaviour in your employees. The guards suddenly stand uncomfortably straight, pushing their chests out. Now, Brekker can take a look at the two men who had followed him up to your office. They both look like chimney sweepers or shoe shiners, the type of lanky young men no one pays attention to in a crowd. People of this sort tend to be overlooked enough to listen in on any and every hot scoop or invited into people’s homes and no one ever checks whether they’re not helping themselves to the expensive belongings of the homeowners.

“I want Sorokin and Evander with me,” you order. “They started this shit and I will do my damn best to make sure they end this.”

“Yes, Boss,” the tattooed man hurriedly answers and bows his head slightly. He’s about to march away when you ask him one more thing:

 “And bring the Duckling.”

The tattooed man’s lips turn into a devilish grin. “Aye, Boss,” he drones the words.

“The Duckling?” Kaz repeats in a questioning manner.

“Oh, we wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise now, would we?” you answer in an irritatingly patronizing tone. “It’s very me.”

Explosions and mayhem? Kaz thinks to himself. But then he realizes it doesn’t quite matter - if this “Duckling” lives up to your known style of dealing with things, he’s going to get one hell of a distraction.

Magnus Molders rushes out of his brewery. He didn’t even have the time to button up his coat. The cold, rainy wind tugs at his thin shirt and dishevelled hair.

He gasps in surprise. His employee, a redhead boy with a lisp, told the truth: there’s the Golden Panther waiting for him on the circular driveway in front of the brewery. You’re leaning against the backdoor of the steel carriage, finishing a hand-rolled cigarette.

“I’d say ‘good morning’ but it’s more of a shitty noon, you know?” you speak up. With a flick of your fingers, you throw the finished smoke under the brewmaster’s shoes.

Nervous, Magnus clenches his hands into fists to stop them from shaking. His lips tighten into a thin, white line.

“What…” his voice trembles. Magnus clears his throat. “What do ya want, Panther?”

“A lot of things,” you answer. “But I don’t suppose you sell lavender cream puffs or pistachio croissants, do you?”

“No, I-” he hangs his voice when he sees you put your hand up.

“That was a rhetorical question,” you spit out.

“So,” he continues, “What brings ya here?”

You took a small step towards him. “At first, I wanted to talk to you. You know like proper adults. But then I remembered I don’t speak little bitch.”

Magnus clenches his jaw. His eyes begin to burn with anger, fear and humiliation. Like a wounded animal, he ounces when threatened.

“Yer mad, woman, is what ya are!” he screams. A few distant passers-by look towards him and you. They scurry away, sensing immediate danger. “I’ve no bad blood with ya. What’s all this for?!”

With a sad expression on your face, you shake your head disapprovingly. “Because you’re a cunt.”

You hit the steel door of the carriage with your fist, the banging ringing in your ears.

“Duckling?” Jesper repeats confused. Kaz only nods along, an absent expression on his face. “What in Hell is-...” he hangs his voice when he notices a metallic shine in the darkness of the steel carriage. “Oh. Oh, that’s proper mental.”

Without a warning, the massive Gatling gun hidden in the cab begins shooting. Bullets faster than blinking eyes pierce the air, thousands in a second, destroying the brewery. As you ordered before, Sorokin is the one aiming and firing, his whole body trembling from the recoil of the machine gun. Evander, the other man responsible for the fight, is holding the casings with the bullets and making sure the Gatling doesn’t seize up.

After barely a few minutes, although they felt like hours, the brewery building looks like one of the kerchen cheeses that have more holes than actual cheese. Magnus Molders is catching his raspy breath as he tries to stop the bleeding in his left arm. Most of his white shirt is crimson now. Blood is covering the circular driveway, red mixing with greyish rainwater in puddles only to turn into a black, thick liquid. It’s hard to say what happened to his employees back at the brewery but you couldn’t care less. “Bad place, bad time” as some people say.

The streets are awfully quiet but not for long: galloping horses are heard in the distance. A bell begins to ring feverishly. It’s the Stadwatch, always arriving when the party’s already over.

When Kaz gets back into his office in the late evening hours, he’s met with something he should have expected - you’re sitting in his chair, legs propped up on his desk. Although it’s supposed to come off as arrogant, he notices that you’ve stacked his papers, so that your shoes don’t actually damage them. Strangely nice for someone who has no qualms about shooting up a random brewery.

“What are you doing here?” he asks angrily.

You look at your pocket watch. “Took you long enough. I was beginning to think you’ve lost your way.” You take your legs off his desk and stand up. “I should probably ask whether you’re satisfied with my service but I find myself unable to care for your opinion.”

“Why’d you come here, then?” he retorts swiftly.

“Business etiquette, I guess?” You shrug. “Shake hands, erase the red from the ledger and go our separate ways, admiring each other’s achievements from a safe distance.”

Kaz slightly squints his eyes. By the way he’s clenching his jaw, you can tell he’s angry. He does accept your handshake but keeps the courtesy short and stern. Professional, one might say.

“And yet I feel compelled to give you my appraisal." His tone is intense, filled with violent emotions kept under control with the last bits of his self-control. "You’re like a fly that keeps buzzing but keeps escaping the swat. Infuriating.”

A humourless chuckle erupts in your throat. “You might want to check that with the board of directors.” Before he has any time to react, you pat his thigh, indecently close to his groin, before walking past him and out of the room. At first, he’s angry, blood boiling in his veins and begging him to put you in your place, demand respect in the only way people like you and him understand. But then Kaz grows strangely bashful as he realises that there might be some truth in your words.

___

Guys, I promise I'm not actually dead T_T Been writing original stuff and binging The Mortal Instruments (the Netflix show is so bad it's actually fun...?)

Tagging people who were interested in part 2: @queenkalico @kplatzman @sunset-kisses-vibes @zeeader

[omegatheunknown]

Top 10 of 2023 -- Theatrical Releases

Started using letterboxd as a journal two years ago, mostly so I could remember just how recently I'd watched Big Trouble in Little China or Hot Fuzz, but also to hit 'em with of the moment reviews and ratings fresh from the theatre. Which is to say, I'm a little nervous to see what'll come up at the top, but let's take a trip.

10- The Boogeyman (**1/2) - Technically in theatres for a week or two. Buried otherwise, a low stakes King adaptation/remake/reboot that makes the list so I don't have to say anything about AntMan, Elemental, Renfield, or, god forbid, Mario. Effective horror, kind of a neat creature at the center of it, pleasantly surprised that I didn't hate it.

9- Asteroid City (***) - Did lead to a minor personal epiphany, so not all bad. The amount of meta-fictional artifice (lest we for a second want to empathize or consider Wes' paper doll characters in his paper doll theatre as being recognizably human) has gone well-beyond the 'as Royal Tenenbaum' and 'let me tell you about my boat,' past the authorial frame of the Grand Budapest and as of The French Dispatch, Mssr Anderson is now almost entirely preoccupied with stories within stories and it is actually very annoying. (The minor epiphany is that I have also been doing this, as metafiction delights me too, Wes, but why should anyone else care?) Anyway, highlight here is the usual meticulous design, the ridiculous stop-motion sequence, some crackerjack dialogue (muted because now every character has the same blunted affect and without subtitles I sorta glazed over in parts) and these movies remain quite funny.

8- Barbie (***1/2) - Watched a lot of pablum this year, most of it with very naked corporate ambition. Barbie's central trick is to critique itself and the very cynical context in which it critiques itself and hopefully contain within it the entire discourse (good luck to you.) Wish I hadn't had to listen to people earnestly tell me how brilliant and resonant certain 'pause for applause' moments were, but the humour may well stand the test of time, and people were rightly hyped on Ryan Gosling's over-delivery on what once was seen as an unlikely bit of casting.

7- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 (***1/2) - Not too proud to admit I was, in 2023, still kind of excited to see this one (1) marvel movie. Crisp Rat aside, the Guardians deliver best on the comic-to-screen vibe and rarely seem embarrassed with their source, leading to the intense emotional journey of a CGI mutant raccoon bounty hunter reckoning with his maker, no winking involved. Rocket Raccoon is my fucking guy, anyway, no more of these, please and thanks.

6- Dungeons and Dragons, Honor Among Thieves (***1/2) - Yeah, okay, more popcorn flick pablum. Hasbro hoping to further capitalize on the pop culture rise of and monetize and micro-transaction-atize and thereby enshitiffy one of my dearest hobbies (I am diversifying away from D&D TM) looming large in the background here, given the whole OGL blowback it was briefly reasonable large portions of diehards might boycott this thing. Anyway, saw it, liked it, succeeded wildly in the goal of effectively conveying what it's actually like to play a fantasy ttrpg, all the weird in-jokes, wild variations in tone, hand-waving and quirks of 'the rules' there for snorts of recognition. Cannot imagine this was much fun for non-players, but maybe.

5- Across the Spider-Verse (****) - Extremely hyped, but hopefully not the zenith of the trilogy, a lot is riding on part 3, which is thankfully due, uhhh, sometime next year? Dragged out its ending laying more groundwork, but before then, another ceiling breaking exercise in contemporary animation, an almost non-stop kinetic kaleidoscope of visual creativity that augurs well for animation's continued evolution.

4- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in Mutant Mayhem (****) - Speaking of. Now, I've loved the Turtles since I was 4 years old, so my personal belief has always been, even though I love the 1990 rubber-suited cash grab, that the central premise is something that in the right hands can actually be objectively good, as opposed to personally delightful to me. This is that movie, the good Ninja Turtles movie. 'Teenage' -- to the point of being endearingly, obnoxiously immature, 'Mutant' -- to the point that the world around them is just as grody and fucked up looking as they are, 'Ninja' -- with sly handheld camera angles and satisfyingly fluid motion to rival Spiderverse, and uh, 'Turtles' -- they sure fucking are. I loved this. Jackie Chan forever.More, please.

3- Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (****) - Exceedingly Quebecois take on the contemporary hipster vampire movie, Can-con for my list. Canadian Indies in 2023 are strikingly similar to American Indies from 2008, if that at all recommends. Ranks high for efficient self-contained everything, very charming, funny, just bizarre enough.

2- The Boy and the Heron (****1/2) - Easy to feel like this is a Ghibli greatest hits compilation, easier to remember that's what we all kinda want-- cute and unsettling creatures, delicious looking food, spirit worlds, quiet moments of reflection, arcane rules for how any and everything works... yet also maybe the truest return to the titanic achievements of Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away (especially.) Story forms a suitably esoteric thesis about grief and creation and, ultimately, endings. I think Miyazaki might actually be done this time.

1- Godzilla Minus One (*****) - An entirely different movie than Shin Godzilla, very possibly even better. It's tense (Godzilla hasn't felt creepy like this for a while.) It's emotional (rivals Godzilla vs Biollante in its human story.) It's very naked in its message (ah, the guilt.) The action is superb. I do not know where Godzilla goes from here. (Mothra!)

(Haven’t seen: Poor Things, Bottoms, Napoleon, the Killer, a bunch of other crap.)

[sylseal]

The Eschatar Report #2 (Lancer Fiction)

REPORT SUBJECT: [REDACTED] (See Report)

REPORT DICTATOR: Doctor Brenn Cross. Qualifications include a PhD in Xenobiology and a position as First Officer of the starship UEV Appalachia.

REPORT SOURCE: Surface of Eschatar via Omnihook.

REPORT REASON: Discovery of the explicit violation of the First Contact Accords by SecComm, discovery of a potential asset.

REPORT CLASSIFICATION: Highly Sensitive, Administrative Eyes Only.

Description:

When I was a child and I became unruly, my mother would tell me stories of Union's Black Talon. A monster, clad in black armor, bearing a sword that could unfold into a scythe, and who rode in the heart of a horrific dragon that could ravage entire worlds. She would tell me, "Brenn Cross, you behave yourself, or the Black Talon will show up to take you."

Of course, it was just a fairy tale. And we all grow out of fairy tales, eventually; we all grow up, we all wise up to the truth: there is no mysterious NHP who delivers gifts in winter months, no mysterious creature that takes our teeth when they fall out, and there is no such thing as the boogeyman. No such thing as the Black Talon, not really. Official Union records claim It was a person. An enforcer for SecComm, maybe their best ever, but still a person under all that. That's all they were.

This, as it turns out, was untrue.

Official records say that the actual Black Talon, the person, was destroyed in 4600u, and their mech was utterly reduced to atoms forever. They were supposed to be dead.

I am now here to clarify that no, the Black Talon is not dead. They are still very much alive, very much in good health...and very, very much against all things SecComm. Bear with me, this will take a small history lesson.

History:

When the Black Talon was "created" in 3651u, it was done by taking the most promising recruit of Union's armed forces, who showed the greatest potential as a soldier and a pilot, and enhancing their body with cybernetics. That soldier's name was Galendriel; Gal, if you prefer. I will, herein, be referring to them by that name.

The transition from cybernetic augmentation to decorporealization was slow, gradual even. More cybernetic augmentation, more mechanical parts, more therapy to get Gal adjusted to it all, more and more until they were almost entirely cybernetic, and an utter terror on the battlefield. However, the idea of decorping Gal wouldn't come about until some time in the late 3600s when, SecComm, wishing not to lose what had rapidly become their greatest asset and enforcer, created a secret facility here, on Eschatar, to discover the secrets of immortality. Initially, it was not the prison that it would one day become, but instead a purely scientific research environment.

They discovered the secrets to decorporealization here, which of course have been utterly lost, and managed to transfer Gal's consciousness to a bio-mechanical body. The project was a huge success, but was put under so much red tape and classified documentation that no one knew it even existed beyond pure hearsay and rumor, and that was before it all got deleted.

Gal believed they were doing good work, at first. They believed that they were working towards the unity of all mankind, for the good of the people. However, that illusion quickly fell flat in the face of SecComm's tendency towards murder and mayhem. It didn't take long for Gal to decide enough was enough; they tried to turn against their handlers, to bring a stop to the madness...only for SecComm to activate a mind-control chip, placed in their head as a failsafe in case they didn't cooperate with Union's wishes.

And for a long time, that was how Gal was forced to operate. Forced to conquer and murder and butcher against their will. As the conception of mechanized chassis came into being, SecComm once again turned to Gal for their most dangerous and extreme version of this: a mech that could shift between something close to what we now know as Harrison Armory's Enkidu model, and a form that was much closer to a dragon. The purpose of the form shift was not only to intimidate foes, but also, to capitalize on a highly experimental technology.

You see, somehow, SecComm managed to split Gal's consciousness across two bodies: her human-sized, bio-mechanical body, and her mecha. Even Gal doesn't know fully how they managed this, but they did. Gal was able to remotely pilot that mech while it was in its dragon form, and in the event that both of their bodies were ever destroyed, their mind was backed up in triplicate, so there was truly no end to their suffering, nor the suffering they caused.

That lasted until, finally, there was an opportunity for Gal to escape. The revolt against SecComm in the aftermath of the Hercynian Crisis caused security around Gal to loosen, just enough for Gal to reach out to members of HORUS under a different name and a disguise. in exchange for being well-compensated, these members of HORUS broke the mind-control failsafe in Gal's head, allowing Gal to slip their leash once and for all.

Free, at last, Gal was one of the first to leak classified documentation on just what Union had done during the Hercynian Crisis, as well as the PISTON-1 incidents, onto the Omninet. Then, knowing that their existence was against the First Contact Accords, they sealed themselves up here, in Eschatar, to wait out the war and out of fear that SecComm would regain control over them somehow. They turned the creatures of Eschatar loose on their operators, and locked the operators in with the creatures. And otherwise...that brings us to the present day.

Other Specific Notation:

They could have let us die. They saw we were Union-aligned, they knew there was every chance that we could be there to take them back. But...they decided to help us instead. To guide us, to be a voice of safety in this dark prison. My hypothesis from my last report, obviously, was correct. When we descended to the core of the moon, we discovered a small apartment with an omninet connection and some of the best cybersecurity we've ever seen. Inside was a feminine figure with pale skin, segmentation at the joints revealing the nature of their body, long dark hair, and deep blue eyes with black scalera. They asked us to keep our distance at first, which we agreed to, in exchange for some answers as to who they were. That was when they told us their story, in full. I left immediately after to collect my thoughts and write this report.

After some time to think, I have ultimately come to a conclusion, and I say this as someone who is exceedingly and extensively familiar with the historical records of this person's terrible exploits: I do not believe they are a threat. I believe that if, given the chance, they would gladly make all the possible efforts they could to repair the terrible damage they had to cause under SecComm. They have expressed a deep disdain for SecComm and all they were forced to do for that administration, and have agreed to turn themselves over for a full and thorough scan, both physical and mental, in exchange for a promise of asylum and, as they put it, "a chance to make things right."

There is a question of "why haven't they come forward before?" And from what I have been told, they did not know whether or not ThirdComm would end up being just more of the same as SecComm after several centuries, or if there was truly a desire to be different. So, they observed us, via the omninet. They waited. And, when they decided they had seen enough, they set up a beacon. Not a distress beacon, just a signal beacon. That was how we found this place to begin with. They did place a warning in the beacon, explaining that this place was dangerous, but "dangerous" doesn't typically mean monstrous genetic lizards that nearly outclass Size 1 mecha. Still, considering SecComm's penchant for shooting first and asking questions later, I actually think they might have expected us to come armed to the teeth, maybe in mecha. As soon as they realized how much we had underestimated this place, they got in contact with us. I can't exactly blame them for the deaths of my men, but...they blame themselves for it. At this point, that's just one more thing for the psych evaluation.

But with all that in mind, I must make a stern recommendation of extraction, a psych-evaluation for Gal's mental health, and a recommendation of asylum for them. This is a creature that has been tortured just as much as any of their victims, and I believe, as part of the Three Pillars, that Union has a responsibility to care for them. Of course, I leave this matter in the hands of the Administration, but I do not think it is in our best interest to turn them away when they clearly want to do better after all this time.

With that in mind, this is Doctor Brenn Cross, signing off.

//END REPORT

[nightlightlady]

"So, my dear... do we have a deal?"

Something I did in my art class; it was a project based on "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"; cutting out different pieces of painted paper to make the final piece. I based this project off of an RP I did with @cala-marix​!

Medium: Acrylic Paint, Bristol Board, paper, and a little bit of Micron Pen and colored Pencil.

Cala Maria is owned by Studio MDHR

Mayhem and art are mine.

[j-reau]

SO YOU WANT TO KNOW JENNIFER JAREAU?  PT. 1

[I’m sorry I took forever to answer this because I kept saying I was going to come back and finish it so for now you get part one.]

The reality is, Criminal Minds is 15 seasons of television. And in this show that means roughly 15 years of these character’s lives. A LOT happens. But at the same time, this is a pretty old show and it’s a CBS procedural. It’s designed to be digestible even if you don’t follow the main plots. Unlike some other procedurals, it tends to have more of a serialized (week to week) plot going through in terms of the characters’ individual developments and the occasional bigger arc. But that said, when I say an episode is a “good JJ episode” that may mean it’s an episode where she has a good scene or two. It may mean it’s an episode where she has a defining character moment. It does not necessarily mean she will be the entire focus of the episode. The character development in a show like CM is slow and really, really built over time. And the moments you’ll see me piece together on my blog and talk about as important moments for JJ, may often feel like blips on the radar of an episode. Do not expect a 2019, golden age of TV, stop your heart kind of plot and drama. It’s just not that kind of show. It’ll do that now and then, but not all the time. 

So without further ado, I plan to break this episode list up into three subsections: *** means the episode is a must watch to know JJ’s plot and development. This will be saved for Major JJ episodes. ** is for episodes that are JJ focused or have good JJ content but may be simply a good emotional episode, and are not required in order to follow plot moments. Lastly, * means that the episode is just one that I love. It may be another character’s big arc. It may be a mystery I just think is great, or an episode that is considered classic CM. So start at the top. If you don’t have a lot of time at all, stick with the three stars. If you want a full JJ adventure, do three and two. If you want a little bonus stuff because you’re having fun and you like the other characters too, do the three stars, two stars, and ones. 

SEASON 1

*1x01: Extreme Aggressor - JJ isn’t even in this episode. But it’s the pilot. It gives you the backstory and establishes the team.  ***1x02: Compulsion - While not extremely plot relevant as most of my other three start episodes, this is in fact JJ’s first episode. So especially if you’re not going to watch 1x01, give this one a go.  [JJ is not an incredibly important character in season 1. So she’s not in much of it. But with that said, I’d suggest bopping around and watching a few random episodes just to get a feel for the team/vibe/etc] **1x14: Riding the Lightning - JJ is so awesome in this episode. It’s also considered a CM classic so def watch it. It’s not on my must watch list because rules say it’s not plot relevant to JJ’s story specifically but I’d still call it a must watch.  *1x21: Secrets and Lies - not plot relevant but it does have some delightful JJ and Garcia friendship scenes and we love them here.  *1x22: Fisher King Pt 1 - Finale. Not relevant to JJ beyond the fact that it’s the season finale. I will likely put most finales and season premieres on this list because they tend to include the big, team wide, more personal cases. 

SEASON 2

*2x01: Fisher King Pt 2 - like I said, all finales and premieres. This one is a two parter.  **2x06: Boogeyman - a CM Classic. Elle Fanning guest stars. JJ has some great moments with kids because that’s her thing. Not plot relevant.  ***2x07: North Mammon - Not SUPER plot relevant but this is the first time JJ really gets an episode of her own, that’s her arc and feels like her case. It’s a good look into her character and provides some insight into who she is. Also it’s a wild case straight out of a CW show.  *2x09: The Last Word - not important for JJ but it is Emily Prentiss’s intro episode and we just love Emily in this house and she’s a very important character in JJ’s life.  *2x12: Profiler, Profiled - again like most early season episode, not JJ centric. This is a Morgan centric episode and is really a CM classic. Goes into Morgan’s backstory and is heartbreaking and well done. If you’ve gotten this far and find yourself into him, watch this.  ***2x14-2x15: The Big Game/Revelations - This is a two parter with a case that goes in CM fandom history books. It also features some important plot stuff for JJ and some real heartbreaking trauma for the team.  ***2x18: Joneses - JJ has some romance related stuff in this episode that is p important for her arc and life in general.  **2x21: Open Season - Not super plot heavy but a good JJ episode with good scenes a decent case. Does a lot to show what JJ does in her part of the job. AND features Criminal Minds iconic girls at the bar scene. 

SEASON 3

**3x01: Doubt - I left out the season 2 finale so take it or leave it but the Season 3 premiere is good fun. Has some good JJ emotions in it.  *3x02: Name in Blood - Not JJ relevant but a good Emily episode and a case that weirdly becomes relevant in a JJ/Emily episode WAY THE FRICK in season 14 or something.  **3x04: Children of the Dark - No big plot things just a great JJ and Emily episode of them being great together acting like moms.  **3x05: Seven Seconds - No big plot things again but a good perspective of the extent of what JJ’s side of the work deals with.  *3x09: Penelope - HUGE episode, very important. For the team, For JJ, for Garcia. Watch it. [Also maybe watch the last 5 minutes of the episode before it] **3x15: Higher Power - Not that big plot wise but always assume if a plot description/case has suicide in it that it’ll have good JJ content. ***3x18: In Heat - JJ and Will stuff. You need it to know who JJ is.  *3x20: Lo-Fi - it’s a finale so it goes on the list.

SEASON 4

*4x01: Mayhem - again it’s a premiere so it goes on the list *4x03: Minimal Loss - not JJ related but a good CM classic, guest starring Luke Perry and a great Prentiss episode - JJ goes on Maternity leave / AJ goes on Maternity leave mid season 4 so there’s a big gap in JJ content But she has her baby i 4x11 if you want to see it. She returns in 4x14 *4x17: Demonology - no JJ but a huge backstory ep for Emily. Really pretty, really good. I highly recommend.  **4x23: Amplification: Not hugely plot important but a good JJ episode. Deals with her getting used to being both a mother and an agent.  *4x24-4x25: To Hell / And Back - Very disturbing season finale. Not JJ focused but a CM classic. 

[gold-onthe-inside]

Hey there

Favourite criminal minds episodes from any season?

oh god this is hard to choose. i did just go on a whole rant about doubt (because it really is a good episode) but i have favourites for different reasons. only doing seasons 1-7 because there are so many ugh

season 1: the ones that stood out for me the most was 'derailed' and 'the fisher king' (somebody's watching was just a painful episode, i'm sorry lila/reid shippers)

season 2: ngl, s2 was pretty good. my absolute favourite this season was 'lessons learned' is an AMAZING episode mostly because it highlights the brutality that happens in Guantanomo Bay and the way the system treats threats to national security. i'm sorry but no-one should be treated that way, not even a terrorist (which could totally be another post).

highlights include:

'the boogeyman' is actually one of my favorite episodes purely because the first time i watched it, i predicted the ending and it made me feel so big brain.

'north mammon' is also a really good episode purely because it tried to add some backstory to JJ. (if only they had kept up that momentum 😔)

obviously 'profiler, profiled' makes an appearance because OMG SHEMAR'S ACTING please i wanted to cry.

also mentioning 'the big game' + 'revelations' - i know it's a horrible representation of DID but i can't help it. it's an amazing episode.

'jones' was pretty good too, purely because willifer and also the concept of the abused becoming the abuser and how that doesn't invalidate the trauma they went through

season 3: obviously as explained in my previous post, 'doubt'. that episode almost made me forget this show is copaganda. in close second comes 'scared to death' even if it does kinda villainise a therapist. but still.

notable mentions:

'about face' gets a mention because it was rossi's first appearance and also imo emphasises how criminal profiling is not a science how had rossi been wrong, a woman could have died.

'in heat' is a beautiful episode because it shows how much pain LGBT+ people feel (speaking as a closeted bisexual) when they come out of the closet and then get beaten back inside. also gives us willifer and derek being pancoded

'the crossing' fucking devastated me. the whole battered wife plotline, why wasn't the whole plot based on that? i wasn't even paying attention to the other plot. the whole scene at the end, her killing her husband and then cleaning it up. when i tell you i screamed!!

THE FINALE!! OMG!! 'lo-fi' and 'mayhem' EXCUSE ME? MY GOD GIVEN SOLACE?!

season 4: the whole damn season, are you KIDDING me? who told them to go so hard? 'minimal loss' is by far my favourite (platonic spemily!!), even more than 'amplification' (moreid!!). overall their best season FIGHT ME!

i should add that i HATED the pigs finale. i refuse to name it. that tragedy, jesus! i don't even know what message they were trying to send us there, what, be afraid of intellectually disabled people? i'm sorry but what the FUCK? by far the most ableist episode i've ever watched (second most is coda but we'll get there)

season 5: '100' made me bawl. like a baby. i hate that episode. 'mosley lane' was incredible, thank you MGG my lord and saviour. 'the uncanny valley' also made me cry, potentially harder than 100. just the sheer 180 spencer reid gave from treating that poor girl's father to the way he treated her, i'm sorry it just, hits me so hard. and what morcia stan could forget 'exit wounds'?

season 6: ooh this was a great season. starting off strong with the premiere, 'the longest night', brilliantly written, loved shemar's acting, a wonderful episode, i have never felt less sympathy for an unsub. '25 to life', another wonderful derek-centric episode. derek is, hands down, one of the best profilers on the team and i have and always will trust his judgement. 'today i do' was another one that i didn't completely hate. the psychology behind that episode made sense, it was something i could definitely understand. and obviously, the whole ian doyle arc was amazing. i loved that.

okay, i've talked about 'coda' before. it was a great episode with one, one tiny flaw. i never understood the anti-seavers before today. y'all are fighting for the wrong reason. she is the epitome of ignorant ableism. she accused a child, A TEN YEAR OLD CHILD with autism of homicide. she accused a child of killing his parents. because he had autism. and the defense. the only defense. they could think of was that statistically, that sort of crime had a financial motive. are you kidding me? he was a child. that was raised with love and kindness. are you kidding me? i'm sorry, spencer playing piano with said child barely won me over.

season 7: off the top of my head, 'it takes a village' because reid's outfit and omg it was so brilliantly written. 'dorado falls' was pretty good, the PTSD was fairly accurately written. 'there's no place like home' purely for reid's frankenstein reference and willifer again. 'hope' was wonderfully written, my favourite penelope-centric episode ever. 'true genius' because it resonated with me so hard. the burnt-out gifted kid thing. i get it spence. 'snake eyes' because it was reid-centric and i loved him in that episode. also portrays gambling pretty well. it's often not seen as a serious addiction on tv, probably because it benefits big corporations. 'foundation' because it's a derek-centric episode and literally every derek-centric ep is amazing. and finally, 'hit' + 'run' are amazing episodes because willifer, emily completing her arc and spencer in a doctor who stume. let's just say this season did wonders for spencer's attractiveness.

kay, i'm gonna stop here or i'm never gonna stop. but those are my favourite episodes and why for every season.

[xpouii]

JSE Day 30: Left alone

Day 30 of the JSE artists prompts by @septic-bella

**All previous entries available on AO3 under the title “Mayhem” with my same username.**

A/N: Can’t believe it’s almost over! What a month!

               The house was silent, and the only thing that broke it was the steady beeping of Jack’s pulse on the monitor. Jameson had heard the gunshot, but not much since, and he was on the verge of a good old fashioned panic. Would Jackie have left him in here alone if he’d managed to fight Anti off? If Chase was a puppet, and he was using the gun, why would he only shoot once if it didn’t kill Jackie? Why was everything so quiet now? Why hadn’t Henrik come back to check on Jack yet? Jameson walked over to the exam table where Jack was, taking his hand and patting it. He hardly knew Jack as a person; he’d always been more like a deity, a sleeping god that they worshipped in words but couldn’t help in deed. Now, though, he was coming around—that’s what Henrik had said, anyway—and Jameson might be the only one left to greet him, unable to speak and with no real experience.

               Jack’s monitor missed a beat and Jameson looked over, watching the out of place spike fade away as the rhythm picked back up. He wished he wasn’t alone, and he wished he could help the others. You’re terrible in a fight, Jamie. You’d only get in the way! Besides, Jack is important.

               Jameson rested his chin on his upturned palm and sighed, watching the clock. Time didn’t necessarily mean anything, anymore. It was dark, and quiet, and Anti was stalking the darkness like the boogeyman. The second ticked by like Jack’s pulse and it was hypnotizing. Jameson was tempted to sleep, but he knew he couldn’t, not and watch out for Jack. The lab door was locked, and Henrik had implemented several different locks—probably after Anti’s first attack on Jack. Jameson stood, shaking the sleep from his body and pacing around the lab; so many things in the room were beyond his comprehension. Not only because he was an actor, not a doctor, but the time difference was tangible.

               Jameson remembered a few things from his past, but it wasn’t solid, wasn’t complete. Marvin had been helping him with that, and so had Henrik, but now he supposed that would cease. Don’t be a pessimist, Jamie! It’s always darkest before the dawn.

               The sound rattled on for some time before he actually noticed it, and then it turned his blood to ice. Long, thin screeches, like nails on a chalkboard—or nails on glass. He glanced toward the frosted glass of the door and he could see the hand when it pressed forward, scratching down the glass. There was a blue glow as well; it was Marvin. Jameson stepped back, tempted to hide, run into Henrik’s modest bedroom and hide under his cot-style bed. It would be easy, but he had a job to do, and abandoning Jack at the first sign of trouble wouldn’t do. Jameson stepped toward the door, his heart in his throat. The hand withdrew, and the quiet crept in before two hands returned, slamming against the door so hard that Jameson would have screamed—if he could.

               Anti’s green eyes burned through the fogged barrier, “Come out, little mouse. Come out and complete my set.”

               Jameson’s insides twisted. Set? That meant… he was alone. He backed away from the door on shaky feet, stopping only when his hips bumped into the exam table where Jack slept. The heart monitor skipped again, and Jameson’s hands shook when he patted Jack’s arm. There there, chuckaboo, don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to you.

               “Jameson,” Anti growled. “I’ve got a pretty little cat out here who’d love to bat you around. Don’t make him wait.”

               Jameson flipped the bird to the door, and even though no one could see it but him, he felt better. A small act of defiance can do wonders for morale. That being said, Jameson was rapidly running out of steam. He was frightened, mourning, tired, and not angry enough—never angry enough. His near-constant joy was draining out of him like the blood from his face and he paled inside and out when Anti pounded on the door again.

               “Jamie,” Jackie called. “Jamie it’s alright. It doesn’t hurt. I was upset over nothing. I’m with the others now. We’re all together.”

               “No point in hiding anymore, Hase,” Henrik said. “It’s over. Come out now and make it easy on yourself.”

               “We’ll go get a drink together!” Chase laughed. “Whisky on me!”

               “Come out so I can play with you, Jamie,” Marvin purred.

               They were all there, on the other side of the door, broken and tied and controlled. He was officially alone with Jack. Marvin’s nails scratched at the door again, and Jameson closed his eyes.

               He stayed that way, trembling and gripping the exam table, for a long time. Fear and despair were choking him now, more than the threads ever had, but when he looked at Jack’s sleeping face he knew. He knew he had to keep him safe.

               “Listen to me, little mouse,” Anti growled from outside. “I’ll leave him alone. I won’t lay a finger—or a blade, or a thread—on him if you give in to me. If you don’t, I’m going to tear this house apart to get to him and make you watch. Then I’ll make each of you take turns hurting him until he’s dead.”

               Jameson walked away to Henrik’s desk, scribbling a note and sliding it under the door. You swear?

               Anti laughed, and it jittered, jumping in his throat, “Fine, quiet mouse, I’ll swear. I swear not to harm a hair on his precious little head—or chin. Happy?”

               Jameson looked back at Jack; adrenaline was rushing through his blood, and his heart beat loud in his ears, but he was doing the right thing. He was protecting Jack. He took a deep breath, glancing over at his creator one last time, then he stepped out and closed the door behind him, keeping his eyes shut tight as the threads crawled across his body, pulling him under.

[abutifulnightmar]

October Photo Challege #theunlitlibrary

The time is upon us again! I like to get these up ahead if time so you all can plan ahead. October's theme is "serial killers" in case you couldn't tell. 😱 I didn't want to do a typical Halloween theme, but still wanted to do something super dark and creepy... so here we are. 😬

As always, you can decide how each prompt is interpreted. It doesn't have to be serial killer related whatsoever! I'm just one of those weird people who is interested in true crime and the psychology behind why people do such strange and fucked up things.

I hope you all will join in, but I take no offense if this October theme is a bit much for some and apologize if I've made anyone feel uncomfortable. That is definitely not the intent at all. 🖤

1. case file #tbr

2.family values

3. scene of the crime

4. ax murderer

5. into the darkness

6. creap me out

7. shallow grave

8. killer clown

9. murder and mayhem

10. what a psycho!

11. Panic room

12. the ripper

13. oh the horror

14. Never Saw Me coming

15. boogeyman

16. trophy room

17. it puts the lotion on it's skin

18. no way out

19. decipher this

20. feast of flesh

21. unsolved mysteries

22. stranger danger

23. night stalker

24. twisted tales

25. Fear the reaper

26. nobody's holmes

27. gotta dark secret

28. found within

29. the strangler

30. monster

31. case closed #wrapup

•✫•✫•☽︎❂☾︎•✫•✫•

Current and Recent Reads

•✫• The Mad Girl by Andrew Colvin

•✫• Morning Glory Milking Farm by C. M. Nascosta

•✫• Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

•✫• The Family Plot by Megan Collins - 3.5🖤

•✫• The Mary Shelly Club by Goldy Moldsvsky - 4🖤

•✫• Slewfoot by Brom - 5🖤 (top 10 reads of 2021)

•✫•✫•☽︎❂☾︎•✫•✫•

#bookishchallenge #bookishphotochallenge #augustbookstagramchallenge #octoberbookishchallenge #octoberphotochallenge #challengesofbookstagram #bookstaphotochallenge #thesuspenseisthrillingme #darksideofthetome #booknerd #reader #ireadbooks #readersofinstsgram

[ramajmedia]

John Wick: 10 Hidden Details In The Movies Everyone Completely Missed

The John Wick series might be one of the most unexpected film franchises around. It all started with a relatively small action film starring Keanu Reeves as an unstoppable assassin pulled back into a dangerous world. Reeves' intensity and the amazing action sequences have helped push the series beyond its small beginnings with two acclaimed sequels that keep getting bigger and better.

RELATED: Wickin' Ass: The 10 Hardest-Hitting John Wick Fight Scenes, Ranked

With another film on the way, rumored spin-off and no signs of slowing down, the franchise promises to keep growing. But there's already so much to unpack with the series so far from the fun nods to the behind the scenes mayhem. Here are some of the hidden details in the John Wick films.

10 Older John Wick

As we are introduced to John Wick in the first film, we learn that he is a legendary assassin with years of experience in this deadly line of work. Perhaps it's not surprising then that the character was written to be much older.

The original idea of the character was a man in his sixties going on this mission of revenge. It's easy to see Liam Neeson popping up in such a role. However, the producers luckily decided Keanu Reeves' ageless appearance yet veteran status in the industry worked perfectly.

9 The Directors

Part of what makes the stunt sequences and fight scenes in the John Wick movies so amazing are the directors, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch. These two started out in Hollywood in the stunt business. They know how hard stunt performers work and shoot long takes to show off their skills.

RELATED: 10 Best Assassins In The John Wick Movies

Stahelski was also the stunt-double for Neo in The Matrix which could explain his excellent working relationship with Keanu. While Leitch has gone off to direct films big films like Deadpool 2 and Hobbs and Shaw, Stahelski has stuck to the franchise, directing all three installments.

8 Michael Nyqvist's Injury

As with any action movie, the occasional injury does occur in the John Wick films. However, one particular injury was much more serious than most. Actor Michael Nyqvist played bad guy Viggo in the first film. During a fight scene, Nyqvist was hit in a way that reportedly split his skull.

By the actor's own gruesome description, his head was a bloody mess and he was rushed to the hospital. The injury was thankfully not life-threatening but did require eight stitches. Sadly, the film was Nyqvist's last as he died in 2017 of lung cancer.

7 Greek And Roman Mythology

Part of the fun of the John Wick movies is the complex mythology they weave. With each new film, we learn more about the fascinating world of The Continental, the High Table and more. But the movies themselves seem to draw some inspiration from more classical mythology.

Several of the characters in the film are named after figures of Greek and Roman lore. Charon (Lance Reddick), Ares (Ruby Rose), Cassian (Common), Julius (Franco Nero) and others fall into this category, sometimes mirroring their ancient counterparts.

6 Baba Yaga

Even before we saw John in action, his reputation proceeds him. Despite operating in a world of killers, these violent people are very much afraid of what he's capable of. In a memorable sequence, Viggo tells a story of the Baba Yaga, a boogeyman-like being and describes John as the one you send to kill the boogeyman.

RELATED: The 10 Best John Wick Supporting Characters, Ranked

Baba Yaga is a real figure of Slavic lore, although very different than how it is described here. Baba Yaga is a witch who has chicken legs, and while she is a trickster, she is generally seen as a kind-hearted figure.

5 Pencil Kill

The way characters talk about John Wick is almost more intimidating than actually seeing him in action. While he is a force to be reckoned with when he is angry, but the descriptions of him are almost supernatural. In the first film, we are repeatedly told about how John once killed a man with only a pencil.

While it's fun to let your imagination run with how he managed to achieve that, the mystery is answered in the second film. In one sequence in which John is being constantly attacked, he does indeed take a foe out with a pencil and in gruesome fashion.

4 Mark Dacascos

Mark Dacascos is introduced in John Wick: Chapter 3 as Zero, a formidable assassin hired to kill John. Dacascos is a great addition to the movie, bringing a bit of humor to the role along with his very impressive martial arts skills which he has displayed in other films. But some fans might recognize him from somewhere else.

When we are introduced to Zero, he is working as a chef at a sushi stand. This could be a nod to Decascos' role as The Chairman in the hit cooking reality show, Iron Chef.

3 Casablanca

While there are a number of action and noir films that helped inspire the John Wick series, one classic, in particular, helped influence the distinct world it takes place in. Though Casablanca and John Wick might seem like very different movies, the filmmakers cite it as a key inspiration.

RELATED: 10 Films That Influenced The Directors Of John Wick, Ranked

The idea of the Continental came from Rick's Café in Casablanca as it was the one place people could go to escape the danger outside. As a tribute to that influential film, John actually travels to Casablanca in the third film.

2 Final Farewell

John Wick has dispatched a lot of enemies over the course of these three films and you can expect there will be plenty more to come as the franchise continues. But interestingly, when John finally defeats the final foe in each film, they all give him a similar farewell.

In the first film, John finally kills Viggo, the last of his enemies and Viggo says "Be seeing you, John." This same phrase is mentioned as Ares dies in John Wick 2. Finally, in John Wick 3, Zero tells John that he'll catch up with him shortly before John replies "No, you won't".

1 Keanu Is King

A lot has been said about Keanu Reeves' amazing work in the John Wick series. The videos of his intense and amazing training are impressive enough, but that is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of his commitment.

Because of the rushed schedule during the first film, Reeves had to learn each fight sequence step-by-step right before filming. In the amazing night club sequence in the first film, Reeves was sick with the flu and running a high temperature, yet still nailed it. No wonder he's become everyone's favorite.

NEXT: The 10 Best Keanu Reeves Movies According To IMDb

source https://screenrant.com/john-wick-hidden-details-movies-everyone-completely-missed/

[myhahnestopinion]

THE AARONS 2018 - Worst Film

I read quite a few thoughts from people on the internet decrying the idea of a “Worst Films” list as overly-negative. Those people have likely never seen The Emoji Movie. Here are the Aarons for Worst Film:

#10. The 15:17 to Paris 

Clint Eastwood’s late career need to commemorate every possible act of American heroism he can get his hands on and his inflexible attitude towards efficient filmmaking, no matter whether another take is called for, reached a breaking point in The 15:17 to Paris. Eastwood’s decision to cast the real-life military men that stopped the attack is admirable, but misguided, as each gives a performance more wooden than the fake baby from American Sniper. The film is clearly desperately reaching for some insightful commentary on heroism and sacrifice, but with its indifferent filmmaking of insignificant events designed to pad the runtime (a scene of the trio eating gelato takes over twice as long as the foiled attack), The 15:17 to Paris is too far off-track.

#9. Show Dogs

As a dog returns to their vomit, so too does a studio decide that Raja Gosnell should have another chance to direct a talking dog movie following Beverly Hills Chihuahua and the two Scooby-Doo films. The movie’s antics contain the same poor CGI, confusing world building, and lazy jokes expected from bottom-barrel family entertainment, but Gosnell has bred something truly abominable in Show Dogs thanks to the decidedly not family-friendly content littered throughout. Gosnell’s first show-stopper is grinding the ostensible kid’s movie to a halt in order to discuss the nature of sexual consent among animals; the second, in quite the reversal, was cut complete out of the film a week into release due to its unseemly implications. If you’re looking for an entertaining talking dog picture this year, maybe put this one down and pick up Wes Anderson’s instead.

#8. The Hurricane Heist

The Fast and the Furious series excelled once it began to play fast and loose with the laws of physics, but none of that franchise’s absurdity can break one’s sense of reality quite like finding out that The Hurricane Heist, which hails from The Fast and The Furious director Rob Cohen, revolves around a sentient storm. Yes, to repeat, the hurricane in The Hurricane Heist is seemingly alive and determined to hunt down a single family over a period of years. It’s the sole unpredictable element in an otherwise rote heist film, riddled with stock characters, hammy dialogue, and repeated visits to the same low-budget sets. Certainly the most predictable part of the cheap and confusing adventure though is that a franchise is certainly not on the forecast.

#7. Slender Man

The boogeyman of internet chat boards everywhere finally crept his way onto the big screen in 2018 by way of middle-aged filmmakers who don’t seem to understand how the internet works. The laughable writing of the teenage girl protagonists indicate an ignorance of the film’s target audience, but beyond that is the film palpable disinterest in its eponymous foe. The Slender Man is a non-entity in his own feature; his undistinguishing features are lost among low-lit cinematography that makes it hard to visually distinguish anything at all. His mythos is missing and the editing is choppy. The man may be slender, but so are the plot, the frights, and almost certainly the sequel count of this forgettable feature.

#6. The Clapper

Humans are socially conditioned to recognize the smacking of two hands together in rhythmic fashion as an expression of praise. Dito Monteil, director of The Clapper, has likely been socially conditioned by years of indie rom-coms to believe that smacking together a socially-stunted male character and a female character with a quirky job will result in an affable picture. But The Clapper is embarrassingly uncoordinated, failing to prop up its quirk with any actual humor or its romance with any actual human openness, resulting in a listless (and thus on this list!) film that flails into a third-act misunderstanding involving not-unfounded stalking allegations and an overall lazy disregard for the love interest’s personhood. So, give The Clapper a hand, everyone; it needs all the help it can get.

#5. Flower

Zoey Deutch is a charismatic actor and, following a great performance in Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!!, a rising star, which makes it all the more upsetting that her efforts to find exciting roles was hijacked by the gross male power fantasy that Flower grows into. For the first two acts of the coming-of-age drama, its provocation and plundering of “strong female character” archetypes seems to be in pursuit of something profound, before a sudden tonal and plot shift sends the film floundering through successively icky developments. It’s sad seeing Deutch craft such a compelling character only for the film to weed out its good elements and reveal its sensitivity was all a charade for irritating wish fullfillment, leaving Flower to wither and die.

#4. Mute

Mute is the most painful entry to place on this list, as the passion project of the proficient Duncan Jones and the spiritual sequel to his superlative sci-fi film Moon, but just like with his big-budget Warcraft adaptation, Jones trades the sublime simplicity of his early works for confounding worldbuilding and bland characters. The director’s standard visual polish is overshadowed by the film’s discount Blade Runner aesthetic, but even that stands-out against star Alexander Skarsgård, who shrugs his way through his cipher of a character. The film doesn’t appear to care much about him either, choosing to spend an inordinate amount of time following a pedophilic character to no real purpose, just as its noir-influenced mystery comes to a dud of a conclusion. Here’s hoping Duncan Jones can return to form with his next feature, and we never have to speak of Mute again.

#3. The Open House

The infamous reputation of horror films in the January Dumping Grounds has shifted to a new low with the influx of streaming services. The same craving for endless content that led Netflix to finance beautiful works like Roma also leads them to crank out cheap, dispassionate works like The Open House. The Open House’s algorithm driven production is measurable; it’s designed to draw viewers in with a likeable enough lead and the promise of thrills… and then puts no other thought or effort into itself. Dylan Minette bumbles around an empty house and an empty town, with the occasional sharp noise or shifty side character to suggest, but never genuinely achieve, tension. Its ninety minutes of nothing, culminating in a climax that is dependent on none of that nothing, giving an early and clear sign that it’s not worth visiting everything that Netflix puts on the market.

#2. How It Ends

Like The Open House, How It Ends ends where most other movies would begin. Or, at least, movies that put any effort into their conception beyond taking a cheap, marketable genre (here, the apocalyptic road trip) and hiring a recognizable actor who is nevertheless not a big box office draw. How It Ends has nothing to say about the fragility of society, no insight into taunt relationships between men, no twist or turn that hasn’t been ransacked from better films. It’s, again, ninety minutes of nothing, designed to be easily accessible, unchallenging, and instantly forgotten. And how does that ninety minutes end? With manufactured conflict rooted in hardcore toxic masculinity and an anticlimactic cliffhanger. This is how one’s faith in streaming services’ forays into filmmaking ends.

AND THE WORST FILM OF 2018 IS...

1. Seven in Heaven

If the in-house productions of streaming services’ relentless pursuit of content are lethargic, their acquisitions of theatrical studio’s misfires are a never-ending source of fascination. Netflix had several high-profile purchases from other vendors, such as The Cloverfield Paradox and Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, as well as several dumped onto the service with no warning or fanfare, such as this year’ s worst film, Blumhouse’s Seven in Heaven. Likely, Netflix had as little of an idea how to market the film as its initial owner Universal. It must be hard, after all, to know how to tell viewers what a film is about, when the film’s plotting is so aimless, its rules so arbitrary, its structure so faulty, that as the film rushes to its conclusion, the characters have a lengthy conversation trying to piece together what exactly mattered and what didn’t matter during their adventure. Seven in Heaven, as far as one can discern, sees two teens accidentally travel to a world where everyone follows their worst impulses. This alternate world is, of course, represented by the fact that everyone there is super into heavy metal and black clothing. This is, of course, to contrast with the normal world of non-worst impulses, where the wives in town collectively make a deck of pornographic playing cards for their husbands and then bond with their sons over them. The filmmaker’s worse impulse? Choosing to fill half of its run time cutting back from its central concept of alternate dimension mayhem for a plotline about partying teens waiting out the police that contains no horror elements or intrigue of any kind. It’s all underdeveloped, unbelievable, unagreeable, unmarketable. It’s impossible to make out what exactly they wanted Seven in Heaven to be.

NEXT UP: THE 2018 AARON FOR BEST DIRECTOR!

[actionfigureinsider]

New York Comic-Con 2018 Sneak Peek!

  New York Comic-Con is here, and DST will be showing off a ton of new products, many of which are already up for pre-order! Before you come visit us at the at booth 1644, check out some of those products, and order through your local comic shop, or through the DST web store! Find a store at comicshoplocator.com or visit shop.diamondselecttoys.com!

DC COMIC GALLERY SUPERGIRL COMIC PVC DIORAMA (OCT182227, $45.00)

How super is your Gallery? The Girl of Steel breaks into the DC Gallery line of PVC dioramas with this dynamic new sculpture of Kara Zor-El! Shattering a set of chains, Supergirl flies out of an explosion and onto your shelf in a 10-inch diorama by James Marsano based on a design by Caesar. This sculpture features detailed paint applications and comes packaged in a full-color window box.

DC COMIC GALLERY RED DEATH PVC DIORAMA (OCT182228, $45.00)

How deadly is your Gallery? The DC Gallery line of PVC dioramas accelerates with another addition to the Dark Nights: Metal series of sculptures – Red Death! With bat-shaped speed lightning whipping around him as he screeches to a halt, this Speed Force-empowered Batman is the perfect addition to any Batman or Flash collection! The 10-inch diorama features detailed paint applications and comes packaged in a full-color window box. Designed by Caesar and sculpted by Alterton!

DC COMIC GALLERY METAL WONDER WOMAN PVC DIORAMA (SEP182334, $45.00)

How metal is your Gallery? The world of Dark Knights: Metal expands with the latest comic-based DC Gallery diorama – Wonder Woman from the world of Batman: The Merciless! This woman warrior is girded for battle with breastplate and shoulder armor, and has her sword and shield at the ready. Sprinting past a monstrous tentacle, this action-packed 9-inch PVC diorama comes packaged in a full-color window box. Sculpted by Cortes Studio based on a design by Caesar!

DC COMICS VINIMATES VINYL FIGURES SERIES 4

The DC Universe expands with even more Vinimates vinyl figures set in the world of DC Comics! The Flash, Green Arrow and Supergirl are the latest characters to get the 4-inch block-figure treatment, and each appears in their most famous comic-book look. Set in poses straight off the pages of their titles, each comes packaged in a full-color window box and is in scale with other Vinimates vinyl figures. Designed by Barry Bradfield!

FLASH (SEP182335, $9.99)

GREEN ARROW (SEP182336, $9.99)

SUPERGIRL (SEP182337, $9.99)

DC MOVIE GALLERY DARK KNIGHT BATMAN PVC DIORAMA (SEP182333, $45.00)

He’s the hero Gotham deserves, and now he’s the latest PVC Diorama in the DC Movie Gallery line! Based on Christopher Nolan’s movie The Dark Knight, this sculpture of Batman shows him examining a playing card amid the rubble of one of the Joker’s escapades. Measuring approximately 9 inches tall, this movie-accurate diorama comes packaged in a full-color window box. Designed by Shawn Knapp, and sculpted by Rocco Tartamella!

DC MOVIE GALLERY DARK KNIGHT RISES BANE PVC DIORAMA (OCT182229, $45.00)

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear! The conqueror of Gotham City stands triumphant in this new PVC diorama based on the Dark Knight Rises! Depicting Bane standing on the roof of his camouflage tumbler vehicle, this sculpture by Rocco Tartamella was based on a design by Shawn Knapp. The diorama stands approximately 11 inches tall, is made of high-grade plastic, features detailed paint applications, and comes packaged in a full-color window box.

  GHOSTBUSTERS SELECT ACTION FIGURES SERIES 10 ASST. (SEP182330, $24.99/ea.)

What did you do, Ray? The newest wave of Ghostbusters action figures continues to build the world of the Real Ghostbusters – and the firehouse diorama – with three new figures of Peter, Ray and the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man! Based on their animated appearances with new jumpsuits, new head sculpts and new gear, Peter and Ray measure approximately 7 inches tall while the first-ever fully articulated Mr. Stay-Puft measures approximately 8 inches tall! Plus, these three figures complete the firehouse diorama started in Series 6, so pick them up and complete the iconic front doors! Each comes packaged in the now-iconic, display-ready Select action figure packaging with side-panel artwork for shelf reference. Designed by Yuri Tming and sculpted by Gentle Giant Studios!

JOHN WICK SELECT ACTION FIGURE (SEP182329, $24.99)

When you have to kill the boogeyman, you buy a John Wick action figure! This 7-inch Select-scale action figure captures modern action icon Wick as he appears in his first film outing, dressed in a suit and with multiple weapon accessories as well as his faithful dog, whose death spurs the action of the movie. In scale to all other Select action figures, and featuring over 20 points of articulation, this figure comes packaged in display-ready Select action figure packaging with side-panel artwork for shelf reference. Designed by Yuri Tming and sculpted by Gentle Giant Studios!

JOHN WICK VINIMATES VINYL FIGURES

Revenge is a dish best served vinyl! The Vinimates vinyl figure line has captured some of the biggest icons of action movies, and now one of the newest icons joins the lineup! Vengeful assassin John Wick and his former employer Viggo Tarasov are the latest additions, with John striking a walking pose in his first-movie duds armed with a pistol, and Viggo holding a switchblade. Each 4-inch figure has a fully articulated neck for additional posing options and comes packaged in a full-color window box. Designed by Barry Bradfield!

JOHN WICK (OCT182231, $9.99)

TARASOV (OCT182232, $9.99)

LEGENDS IN 3D IRON GIANT 1/2 SCALE BUST (SEP182331, $200.00)

The largest-scale Iron Giant collectible ever made is the newest Legend in Three Dimensions! The Legends in 3D line expands to the world of animation with this 10-inch bust of the Iron Giant, star of the animated film of the same name. With his pal Hogarth perched on his shoulder, this bust is the ultimate gift for any fan of The Iron Giant, or of iron giants in general. Limited to an edition of 1,000 pieces, this numbered bust comes with a certificate of authenticity in a full-color box. Designed by Joe Allard!

LEGENDS IN 3D MUPPETS ANIMAL 1/2 SCALE BUST (OCT182226, $150.00)

Another Legend is in the making! One of the Muppet Show’s most iconic Muppets, Electric Mayhem drummer Animal, is the first felt fellow to be made into a half-scale bust in the Legends in 3D line! Standing approximately 10 inches tall, this resin bust of Animal was sculpted by Rocco Tartamella from a design by Joe Allard. Limited to only 1,000 pieces, each bust comes packaged with a numbered certificate of authenticity in a full-color, hand-numbered box.

MARVEL COMIC GALLERY BLACK CAT PVC DIORAMA (OCT182225, $45.00)

Don’t let her cross your path! Or do! Since it’s not your safe she’s cracking in to, you won’t mind seeing this sculpture of the Marvel Universe’s resident cat burglar crouching on your shelf. Caught in the light of the Spider-signal, Spider-Man’s frenemy the Black Cat wears her classic costume, and is cleaning out a safe of cash and gold. This 9-inch-scale PVC Diorama is made of high-grade plastic with detailed paint applications and was designed by Caesar and sculpted by Alejandro Pereira. Packaged in a full-color window box.

MARVEL COMIC GALLERY SPIDER-MAN WEBBING PVC DIORAMA (SEP182341, $45.00)

How spectacular is your Gallery? Spider-Man returns with an all-new sculpt in the Marvel Gallery PVC diorama line! Crouched on a web slung across an alleyway, Spider-Man lives up to his namesake in this all-new PVC sculpture portraying the hero in his element. Measuring approximately 7″ high by 11 ” wide, this detailed sculpt by Alterton is based on a design by Caesar, and comes packaged in a full-color window box.

MARVEL MOVIE MILESTONES INFINITY WAR HULKBUSTER MK2 STATUE (SEP182342, $1500.00)

This is the big one! The biggest statue ever released by Diamond Select Toys, this nearly 24-inch sculpture of the Hulkbuster MK2 armor from Avengers: Infinity War appropriately dwarfs other statues in the line, making it the centerpiece of any Avengers collection. Limited to only 200 pieces, it is hand-numbered, and comes packaged with a certificate of authenticity in a full-color box. Sculpted by Gentle Giant Studios!

MARVEL MOVIE MILESTONES INFINITY WAR THANOS STATUE (SEP182339, $300.00)

Thanos triumphant! The mad titan has collected all of the Infinity Gems, and raises his gauntlet in victory in this new statue in the Marvel Milestones line! In scale to other Milestones pieces, this 20″ sculpture can display with the Infinity War Thor statue or on his own, and is limited to a numbered edition of only 1,000. Snap him up before he snaps his fingers! Packaged with a certificate of authenticity in a full-color box. Designed by Joe Allard and sculpted by Jorge Santos Souza!

MARVEL COMIC PREMIER COLLECTION AVENGERS 3 IRON MAN MK50 STATUE (SEP182340, $150.00)

Repulsors to full! This resin statue of Iron Man in his MK50 armor shows him landing on a pile of rubble even as he unleashes a blistering barrage at his target. This statue is limited to a production run of 3,000 pieces, and each statue is hand-numbered, with an accompanying certificate of authenticity in a full-color, hand-numbered box. Designed by Joe Allard and sculpted by Gentle Giant Studios!

MARVEL COMIC PREMIER COLLECTION HOBGOBLIN STATUE (OCT182224, $150.00)

Wish you could be hobnobbin’ with the Hobgoblin? Well, now you can, with this 12″ scale resin statue of one of Spider-Man’s greatest foes! Whether you’re a fan of the Ned Leeds, Jason Macendale or Roderick Kingsley versions of the character, this is the ultimate Hobgoblin collectible! Limited to only 3,000 pieces, it was sculpted by Jean St. Jean from a design by Joe Allard, and comes packaged with a certificate of authenticity in a numbered, full-color box.

  MARVEL SELECT ROGUE ACTION FIGURE (SEP182338, $24.99)

Unite the Blue Team! DST expands on their X-Men offerings with the latest figure in the Marvel Select action figure line – Rogue! The Southern belle with the ability to steal your powers joins Beast, Gambit, Wolverine and Cyclops to form the ultimate action figure strike force! With interchangeable hands, including an ungloved hand and one hand holding a glove, Rogue wears her popular 1990s outfit, and comes with a Danger Room diorama base. Connect it with your other X-Men to form a larger diorama! Packaged in display-ready Select figure packaging with side-panel artwork. Sculpted by Gentle Giant!

PACIFIC RIM GALLERY GYPSY AVENGER PVC DIORAMA (OCT182230, $45.00)

How titanic is your Gallery? The world of Pacific Rim Uprising just got even bigger, with the first ever Gallery PVC Diorama from the hit sequel! Gipsy Avenger stands on guard against Kaiju (and rogue Jaegers) above a diorama of decimated buildings in this 10-inch sculpture, cast in high-grade plastic and featuring detailed paint applications. Packaged in a full-color window box, it was designed and sculpted by BigShot ToyWorks.

STAR TREK SELECT BORG ACTION FIGURE (SEP182332, $24.99)

Resistance is futile! No Star Trek fan can pass up the opportunity to own the ultimate Borg action figure! This 7-inch, fully poseable action figure is based on the Borg’s appearance in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and includes multiple interchangeable parts, including human and Klingon heads, various eyepieces, different tool arms and a removable vest. You can create dozens of different configurations and build an army of Borg! With a full 16 points of articulation, this figure comes packaged in display-ready Select figure packaging with side-panel artwork. Sculpted by Patrick Piggott!

  New York Comic-Con 2018 Sneak Peek from @CollectDST #NYCC New York Comic-Con 2018 Sneak Peek! New York Comic-Con is here, and DST will be showing off a ton of new products, many of which are already up for pre-order!

[wiremagazine]

FLIX: HALLOWEEN (2018)

By Alyn Darnay

Movie "sequels" abound in the land and most are just ho-hum re-hacks of the original. They never approach the impact of the original, nor do they recapture the sense of surprise and awe that you left the theater with. Occasionally one comes by that somehow mirrors those original feelings and conjures up those long-buried emotions you first felt.

Happily, Halloween (2018) is one of those films. It breathes new life into one of the best Thriller/Slasher films ever made and truly resurrects the original 'Boogeyman.' Miraculously, it totally ignores the plethora of bad films the original spawned over the years and ties itself to the original as though nothing has happened between the two pieces.

With this film, Halloween has returned to haunt a new generation of moviegoers and thrill older fans by stirring up the same emotions the original evoked in them. I saw it happen as I sat in a packed theater and enjoyed the film with as diverse an audience as I've ever been in.

Here's the storyline…

Forty years ago, when last we saw Laurie Strode (Curtis), she alone survived the knife-wielding, Halloween masked, murder spree of Michael Myers aka "The Boogeyman." He wound up locked away in a 'fortified facility' for the criminally insane and our heroine wound up a gaunt white-haired paranoid survivalist living apart from her family in a 'fortified compound' in the woods awaiting Michael's inevitable return.

An unexpected and violent escape by Michael (played again by Nick Castle, the original actor) during a nighttime bus transfer, leaves a trail of murder, mayhem, and corpses as this killing machine makes a beeline to the one person he has unfinished business with. Who will live and who will die… and how, makes up this frightening journey into terror.

To their credit, Director David Gordon Green and his leading lady Jamie Lee Curtis manage to put a fresh face on the film franchise and provide a proper ending to the tale… well, maybe. Add John Carpenter's new/old score to the mix and you get a film that evokes much of the terrifying and propulsive suburban nightmare that was so memorable in his genre creating original.

Halloween is just a lot of fun wrapped in a nostalgic creative playfulness that's filled with scary and thrilling set-ups, ass-kicking action, some gruesome executions, and a few genuine chills.

My take… I actually like these films when they're good, they're fun escapist material not to be taken seriously. Unfortunately, most films of this type do nothing but shred the genre. Fortunately, Halloween is a true example of what a good genre film looks like. 

Directed by: David Gordon Green 

Screenplay: David Gordon Green Danny McBride Jeff Fradley 

Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis Judy Greer Andi Matichak Nick Castle Will Patton 

Halloween Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5) Rated: R (for horror violence and bloody images, language, brief drug use and nudity) Running Time: 1 hour and 44 minutes 

Alyn Darnay is a film critic; feedback is encouraged at adarnay@wiremag.com.

This was originally published in Wire Magazine Issue 43.2018

[amildcacophonyofwords]

Teddy

Four year old Timmy Bailey's grandmother had always told him that the boogeyman could take on all sorts of forms.

"Mom, is the boogeyman real?" Timmy asked his mother one night before bed.

"No dear, your grandmother just wants you to stay in bed at night." She giggled as she kissed her son’s forehead and left his room, closing the door behind her.

"Your mother is such a liar." His favourite teddy bear whispered. "I am real and I will cause mayhem for this family until that woman realizes it." The bear let out a malicious laugh.

"You're not real! You're not!" Timmy stammered in a hushed tone "Grandma just made you up, like a fairy tale." He trembled, staring wide-eyed at the beast beside him.

"So says your foolish mother but who do you trust more?" Another malicious laugh as it grinned wide. Timmy threw the bear into his open closet and pulled the blanket up over his head before eventually drifting off to sleep, the bear’s laugh echoed in his dreams.

The next day, Timmy's grandmother picked him up for the long weekend. 

"Hello darlin', how are you?" She smiled as Timmy hopped into the blue 1975 pick-up truck. "Hi grandma!" He yawned. She smiled lovingly at him, ruffled his hair and pulled away from his house to start the hour long drive to her farm. Halfway to his grandmother's farm he piped up from the seat beside her.

"Is the boogeyman real?" he cocked his head to the side in question. "Well, I suppose that depends on who you ask." She smiled as they drove down a gravel road towards her yard. Timmy nodded as though he understood when in fact he didn't. 

"Grandpa's work is in the bathtub, we had a flood in the basement last night." His grandmother’s mouth pressed into a displeased line before she laughed to ease the tension. "I don't know how it happened either, the pipes are all brand new." She looked over at her grandson, who was nodding out of consciousness, as she parked the truck and smiled at the innocent sight. 

Timmy snapped awake and realized they had arrived at their destination. Slowly, he gathered his things and hopped out of the old pick up then raced into the cozy farm house. "Grandpa?" Timmy yelled as his grandmother entered the house and closed the door behind them. "I’m in the washroom!" An aged male voice carried from down the hall to the front door. Timmy ran up the three stairs and to the second room on the right in the short corridor. He entered the washroom to find his grandfather digging through old and somewhat soggy files. "How are ya doin’ champ?" His grandfather turned to face him. "Good." Timmy shifted on his feet. "Hey Gramps, is the boogeyman real?" he asked cautiously, as nervous children tend to do. "As far as I know he isn't, why? Sid you have a close encounter with the boogeyman?" The old man joked, not knowing how close to home he had really hit. "No, I was just wondering." Timmy shrugged it off, smiling before he took off towards the front door and outside towards the horse stables. "Timothy Damian Bailey!" His grandmother yelled out the front door. "It's time to come in for supper then get ready for bed!" Timmy ran back to the house and headed straight to the washroom to wash for supper. 

After a large meal of chicken and mashed potatoes and his grandmother’s specialty gravy, Timmy wandered into the den and sat in his grandfathers overstuffed rocking chair, slumping deeply into it to make his full stomach less uncomfortable. Not long after, his grandfather came to join him as his grandmother cleaned up the kitchen and dining area. "Boy, does your Grandma ever know how to cook." His grandfather mused as he sat on the couch across from the rocking chair. Timmy nodded and patted his stuffed stomach in agreement. 

Time seemed to have erase the memory of the prior night from Timmy's fragile mind but as his bed time neared and his eyes grew heavy, his stomach began to fill with the vile feeling of fear. "Timmy, come on darlin' its bed time." His grandmother entered the den doorway after she had finished tidying up. Timmy whined the way most children do when their bed time nears. "Awe, Grandma, do I have to?" "Yes, we’ve got lots of chores to do in the morning now come on, go potty and I'll go make your bed." His grandmother left the door and Timmy followed. "Night slugger." His grandfather looked up from the fishing magazine he had been reading. "Night Gramps." Timmy said as he headed to the washroom. He grabbed his teddy bear from on top of his overnight bag and went into the washroom, setting the bear down on the edge of the tub as he pulled down his trousers and sat on the cold seat, sending a chill down his small spine. "I'm back Timmy, I'm here, right beside you, just as always." A harsh, familiar voice whispered from his teddy. Timothy's eyes widened in horror and he began to violently shake his head left and right. "You're not real! Grandpa and Mom said so! You're just my imagination!" Timmy screamed, his head shaking less violently. "Oh, but I am real Timmy, I'm as real as you are or as your Grandma and Grandpa." It smirked. "You aren't real!" Timmy screamed again. "I am very real!" The teddy bear snarled. Suddenly, the toilet began to shift under Timmy and the teddy bear began to cackle more viciously than it ever had in the past 24 hours. "I'll show you all just how real I am!" were the last words Timothy Damian Bailey heard before he disappeared.

"Timmy, what's taking you so-" His grandmother stood paralyzed in the entrance of the bathroom, her hand clasped over her mouth and eyes wide with terror as she gazed into the empty room. Her eyes landed on her missing grandsons teddy bear whose mouth was open, revealing razor sharp fangs covered in life.

Her screams cracked the silence of the cozy farm house.

The End.   

[workreveal-blog]

New upcoming Horror Film Life

New Post has been published on https://workreveal.biz/new-upcoming-horror-film-life/

New upcoming Horror Film Life

In the beginning, there are glimmers of a real sense of marvel and mystery approximately the Lifestyles form that the film best fleetingly captures later on. The collection of occasions wherein matters begin to go incorrect is directed for max, even unbearable tension, with the aid of Espinosa. The first fatality isn’t just ugly, However macabre in its implications.

Life poster

From that factor, Existence doesn’t continually stay as much as its ability. Its second half of is a derivation of Alien and each different movie wherein a dwindling band of people must fend off an otherworldly risk in an enclosed space, looking each plan to defeat the component give up with some other frame On the ground (or, in this case, floating in the 0 gravity). The solid is right however the characters are paper-thin. Reynolds is the original shot, a wisecracking mechanic who can fix whatever, Ferguson is the through-the-ebook quarantine officer, and Gyllenhaal, the aloof scientist who has logged 473 days On the ISS because he doesn’t like being around people back domestic. Olga Dihovichnaya and Hiroyuki Sanada spherical out the team as task commander and flight engineer respectively, every given perhaps one character trait to bear in mind them by way of.

It’s real of a marvel that Espinosa and the actors manage to get us to care approximately any of these oldsters, seeing how indifferently they’re advanced, But they work up sufficient empathy to keep us invested. And they also liven it up with A few genuine shocks involving Calvin, one of the other nightmarish monsters we’ve seen in this kind of day trip in quite a while.

Ideas that might have helped raise the cloth into A few extracerebral regions of science fiction — like whether or not Calvin is intelligent, or if his species once ruled Mars and finally made it desolate — are thrown out in bits of debate But grasp there suspended, much like the cast as they believably navigate the gravity-free passages of the ISS (which has been replicated beautifully On the display as a physical set through manufacturing dressmaker Nigel Phelps).

Despite the fact that, no matter its flaws of characterization and shape, Life is still amusing. An inch-deep However serviceable monster movie that stars one hell of a creepy introduction (Calvin has a way of wrapping a pseudopod round someone’s arm or leg that made even this hardened super horror fan a little squeamish). The horror aspects of the film might also outweigh the loftier sci-fi thoughts that fleetingly floor right here and there within the movie, yet Calvin gets a grip on you that’s difficult to shake. Life may be a greater B-horror movie than classic. However, it might not be sudden to peer a “restored deluxe version” display up as a Scream Manufacturing facility Blu-ray 10 or 15 years from now. This is among the new films.

Lifestyles open in theatres next Friday (March 24).

A Mars probe brings returned harmful organisms in Daniel Espinosa’s space horror flick. An Alien-derived creature function that could be serviceable (if underwhelming) underneath everyday occasions, Daniel Espinosa’s Life faces the unenviable prospect of rising less than months earlier than Ridley Scott’s new bankruptcy in that franchise. Like it is eponymous carbon-based totally critter, which spends most of the film rushing from one nook of a space station to some other as our heroes try to starve it of oxygen, the movie may suffocate in the anticipatory atmosphere surrounding Alien: Covenant and the PR raise from this unmerited last-night SXSW slot should not help an awful lot. Insatiable style enthusiasts who do buy a ticket will find probable send lukewarm responses again to the wait-and-see crowd.

Like Scott’s authentic film, this is an ensemble affair whose reliable of characters dwindles in number at a steady clip. Noticeably, the first-rate-acknowledged contributors of its cast aren’t always MVPs: Even supposing they will have greater to do, A-listers Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds register no higher solidly as distinct characters than, say, Ariyon Bakare’s Hugh Derry, the scientist who makes the first contact with the alien, and shortly regrets it.

Derry and employer are manning the general area Station while a probe returns from Mars with soil samples. Underneath the microscope, Derry reveals a single mobile akin to Lifestyles as we understand it, and in a scene containing possibly the film’s most compelling comic story, he brings that cellular to Life with A few glucose. (The dearth of wit is sudden, and saddening, for the reason that screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick co-wrote both Deadpool and Zombieland.) He speedy observes, as the mobile replicates, that each unit appears able to all body functions, which means that the whole grown organism is probably “all-muscle, all-brain, all-eye” — an intriguing belief that is in no way exploited once we meet the whole evolved organism a few scenes later, and that is even contradicted when the critter grows what appears to be a face. The film wastes little time watching as this factor becomes, escaping its Petri dish in a (literally and figuratively) gripping action scene. Before long, it has to turn out to be a starfish-shaped jelly creature and has claimed its first sufferer. Regrettably, the trusting humans of Earth, earlier than sensing its ability for mayhem, have given it a call: Calvin. Attempt shouting “Calvin’s going to find a manner thru the airlock!” with a directly face, and you’ll recognise what this cast is up towards.

As it occurs, Calvin is a great deal better with airlocks and different, not likely get entry to factors than a newly hatched Existence form has any proper to be. He’s additionally hardy, surviving longish spells in a vacuum while the people manipulate to get him outside of the gas station. “Calvin is aware of exactly what He is doing … He is getting smarter,” one astronaut observes. Indeed. He’s so quick that the filmmakers deal with him like a slasher-flick boogeyman, treating us to 3 jelly-distorted POV pictures in which he follows trails of human blood in the direction of his prey. (As with such a lot of sci-fi predators and so few inside the actual global, Calvin likes to go into his victims thru their mouths in preference to only taking a chew.)

life film

The photo struggles to discover a gratifying rhythm as the members of this multinational, co-ed group get sloshed up by way of Calvin or suffer associated fatal mishaps. Each dies valiantly; few experience a moment of glory. And then there were — heroes whose names might not be found out right here, who face that simple project: Wreck this vessel before its extraterrestrial inhabitant can make its manner to the blue planet under. Genre enthusiasts may not be too stunned by the way that performs out. But maximum could be pretty amazed if Existence’s recommendations at a sequel lead to even a single by-product, tonnes less the decades-lengthy afterlife enjoyed through Ridley Scott and Dan O’Bannon’s versatile face-hugger.

Manufacturing organisation: Skydance

Distributor: Columbia Photographs

forged: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ariyon Bakare, Olga Dihovichnaya

Director: Daniel Espinosa

Screenwriters: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick

Producers: David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Bonnie Curtis, Julie Lynn

Executive Producers: Don Granger, Vicki Dee Rock

Director of pictures: Seamus McGarvey

manufacturing designer: Nigel Phelps

Dress designer: Jenny Beavan

Editors: Frances Parker, Mary Jo Markey

Composer: Jon Ekstrand

Casting director:

Venue: South with the aid of Southwest Movie Festival (Headliners)

R, 102 mins

For many years, the top of the sci-fi horror genre was Ridley Scott’s Alien, although it’s territory John Carpenter explored naturally as well together with his model of The thing in 1982 and masses of others have observed fit.

Lifestyles, written by way of Deadpool scribes Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese and directed by means of Daniel Espinosa (Secure Haven), will pay tribute to both those classics with a movie that Offers insight into the relatively straightforward concept of what it might be want to find Existence on some other planet and what might manifest if that existence proves to be opposed. This sort of premise has driven the pleasant technological know-how fiction in all codecs, and while the way Existence occasionally falls back on ways this premise has worked earlier than that would make it sense derivative, it additionally Offers enough anxiety to maintain you invested at some stage in.

The ISS (worldwide area Station) Pilgrim 7 is set to receive samples from an unmanned craft coming back from Mars, as we meet the group with the boisterous Rory Adams (Ryan Reynolds) out in space seeking to capture the ship coming back from Mars. The operation is being run using Miranda North (Rebecca Ferguson), who has the responsibility to carry out a mission that calls for making sure whatever observed on Mars will remain isolated where It can be studied through the relaxation of the team, together with Jake Gyllenhaal’s David Jordan.

It’s the deliver’s “technology officer” Hugh (Ariyon Bakare) who first interacts with the single cell organism they locate on Mars, an alien quick nicknamed “Calvin.” He’s also the first to enjoy Calvin’s violent side Because it attempts to break out containment. The team quickly realises how vital it becomes to maintain they are locate remote, But it’s now not long before they recognise that removing their discovery is the only way to preserve it from likely killing them all. The first component you want just to accept approximately Existence is that it’s going more for the form of the sluggish construct of Alien in preference to the wild outer space movement foundation of new sci-fi movies like the famous person Trek films.

[nightlightlady]

@backintheroaring30s

Cue the Boogeyman sliding up to Shaggy, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

"Say, Kid. I hear ya got a Diamond Thief on th' loose. Listen, I've got quite the nicest solution for your trouble; I can get you new ice for that tree. How's that sound?"

[nightlightlady]

@cala-marix

"Dear girl, are these little ol' toy boats giving you trouble? I myself am impartial to these over-salted sea dogs taking up these waters. If you'd like... I can get them off your hands. But... such a thing won't come without a price."