#andy jovanka

[gaia-mix-nicolosi]

Merry Keepermas everyone!

[alonyssima]

In my mind, Nyssa named Neeka after Tegan, and her name is Neeka Tegan Traken, with Neeka being after the surname Jovanka, and Tegan after her first name Tegan.

So basically, Neeka Tegan Traken = "Jovanka Tegan" Traken. But more Trakenized or Vanirized.

And for Adric, his full name is Adric Seronus Traken.

Adric of course like our Adric of Alzarius, and Seronus... I think after both Seron of Traken, and the English word, Serenous, as Nyssa thought that if she also did'nt use an Earth name it would become a bit weird. So it's a Trakenization or Vanirization of the word, Serenous.

So basically, Adric Seronus Traken = "Adric, the serenous" Traken.

Technically you could consider Adric to be serenous, or the time Adric and Nyssa - or Adric, Nyssa, and Tegan - spent together. It was the fivey era when she saved everyone and thus there was less killing than there was in Turlough's episodes. Also, there was a lot of clear weather.

In my HC, Andrew Seron Jovanakahay (Jovanka-Tanaka-Haybourne) (he goes by Andy) is Tegan's adopted Aboriginal Australian son, formerly shared with Michael Tanaka and William Haybourne, named after both Andrew Verney and Seron of Traken (because Tegan wanted a Trakenite middle name ofc), eventually becomes Nyssa's stepson too and becomes, Andrew Seron Jovanakahayken, with the Ken part coming from Traken. So it's actually Jovanka-Tanaka-Haybourne-Traken.

And Nyvi of Traken, she's Nyssa and Luvic's biological daughter. (OFC not in the main Whoniverse but in other timelines including one known as the Bagel AU) In my mind, she has her father's eyebrows, eye color, nose, teeth, and thiccer body\butt. BUT she has her mother's cheekbones, eye shape, and lips. Propably also about the same height. (Yeah she looks a lot like Clara) (but she is not an echo) I considered her clothing color to be propably lavender. Maybe teal accents. Her skintone is somewhat in between. Her hair color kinda too, I think her hair is naturally straight and medium brown (like Nyssa's, Luvic's, and Tremas') but perhaps curled to fit with consular nobility hairstyles. I assume her to be dressed similiar to Nyssa when she's on Traken, but on Earth... she propably borrows Rose's clothing or something lel. At least her first, then she finds out her own fashion sense and it's a bit of a mix of what her parents seems to be, cute and dressy and feminine with a lot of lavenders, teals, and blues. Her voice is also one of the thing that she takes from both parents. High pitched like mom but angular like dad. Now on to her personality, she is smart, mostly calm, but is a bit of a rebel against the Keepership, although she does'nt want to kill her grandfather off as she mostly exists in universes where he's the Keeper.

So... in my mind Nyvi is somewhat a teenage runaway, taking a warp ship and somehow ended up on Earth and it's she and Andy that fall in love, before Nyssa and Tegan do.

Older!Nyssa confides in Tegan, telling her the truth about her life during the fifty-year gap between Terminus and Cobwebs.

Sadly, this moving exchange is just about the only time they have any kind of heart-to-heart, and it’s all too brief. But that’s not why I quoted this snippet. I want to look at something that confused Tegan and has confused some listeners.

[SPOILERS]

Continua a leggere

[companion-showdown]

Showdown 2k25 - Submit Propaganda

Just like last year I want to kick January off with a flat popularity contest, showdown 2k25. (<- I wrote that in December before my laptop packed up, it'll now be after whenever I manage to get my laptop fixed)

Automatically competing - everyone from last year (list), with the following exceptions

Last years winner - Donna Noble

Possibly Rose Tyler as the 2023 winner, but I need to think on it a bit more

I'm going to reassess a few from last year, but it will be a tiny number

Rules for new nominees (tardis wiki list referenced below)

Anyone on the list will automatically be accepted

TV companions MUST be on the list

EU companions not on the list will be considered on a case by case basis. If they meet a reasonable definition of companion I will accept them, basic guideline is has their own tardis wiki article so I can actually check, multiple stories with the Doctor, none of these guidelines are hard rules, if you can justify them to me (and I can follow the argument), I'll let them in

Propaganda is not carrying over from last year, if you want to go to bat for someone, use this same form - (There isn't a lot at the moment so more would be appreciated, you can check the list under the cut for who hasn't got any if you want, but multiple sets for one character is good)

You can use this form to make multiple nominations/give multiple bits of propaganda at once.

I don not currently have an end date when nominations will close

list of (162) competitors, anyone in green has propaganda submitted for them (26)

Classic Who

Barbara Wright

Ian Chesterton

Susan Foreman

Vicki Pallister

Steven Taylor

Katarina

Sara Kingdom

Dodo Chaplet

Ben Jackson

Polly Wright

Jamie McCrimmon (propaganda x2)

Victoria Waterfield

Zoe Heriot

The Brigadier

Sergeant Benton

Liz Shaw

Mike Yates

Jo Grant

Sarah Jane Smith

Harry Sullivan

Leela

K9

Romana I

Romana II

Adric

Nyssa

Tegan Jovanka

Kamelion

Vislor Turlough (x2)

Peri Brown

Sabalom Glitz

Mel Bush

Ace McShane

Chang Lee

Grace Holloway

NuWho

Mickey Smith

Adam Mitchell

Jack Harkness

Martha Jones

Wilfred Mott

River Song

Amy Pond

Rory Williams

Canton Everette Delaware III

Kate Stewart

Clara Oswald

Handles

Missy

Nardole

Grant Gordon

Bill Potts

Graham O'Brien

Ryan Sinclair

Yasmin Khan

Dan Lewis

Karvanista

Inston-Vee Vinder

Rose Noble

Ruby Sunday

Audio

Oliver Harper

Erimem

Iris Wildthyme

Evelyn Smythe

Hex Schofield

Mags

Alex Campbell

Bliss

C'rizz

Cass Fermazzi

Charley Pollard

Helen Sinclair

Liv Chenka

Lucie Miller

Molly O'Sullivan

Narvin

Sheena (The Starship of Theseus)

Tania Bell

Anya Kingdom

Mark Seven

Novels

The Mortimer Family

Serena

Milena

Business Woman (Time on a Vine)

Bernice Summerfield

Cat Broome

Chris Cwej

Roz Forrester

Wolsey the Cat

Anji Kapoor

Claudia Marwood

Compassion

Fitz Kreiner

Hector (All Flesh is Grass)

Marie (Alien Bodies)

Sam Jones

Trix MacMillan

Ikalla

Rosie Taylor

Jack McSpringheel

Peter Summerfield

Ruth Leonidas

Dorothy (The Wonderful Doctor of Oz)

Sibling Different

Cinder

Anna (Good Companions

Badger

Barusa

Guinevere Winchester

Irving Braxiatel

Larna

Patience

Penelope Gate

Zeleekhà

Comics

Duh

Gillian & John Who

Dave Lester

Sharon Davies

Gus Goodman

Maxwell Edison

Shayde

Frobisher

Ly-Chee the Wise

Olla

Chantir

Destrii

Fey Truscott-Sade

Izzy Sinclair

Kroton

Ssard

Josie Day

Cindy Wu

Gabby Gonzalez

Grayla

Jayne Kadett

Majenta Pryce

Rose-the-Cat

Alice Obiefune

Abslom Daak, Dalek Killer

John Jones

ARC

Hattie Munroe

Weeping Angel (Origins)

Child Master (The Then and the Now)

The Squire

Real Life

Alan Turing

Claudia Winkleman

John Lennon

Jules Verne

Mary Shelley

Peter Cushing

Other

Alison Cheney

Shalka!Master

Andy Davidson

Antimony (Death Comes to Time)

Brian the Ood

Dormouse (The Red and the Blue)

Emma (curse of fatal death)

Koschie

Romana (Battle for the Universe)

Splinx

Susan Who

Tom Campbell

[autoacafiles]

So who in totals travelled with the doctor? I know we saw donna, but what other companions are there?

This is gonna be a big one, so *Takes a deep breath* In his first incarnation, the First Doctor started his travels with his granddaughter Susan, accidentally taking her school teachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. Along his travels, people would come and go, including Vicki Pallister, Steven Taylor, Katarina, Sara Kingdom, Oliver Harper, Dodo Chaplet, Ben Jackson and Polly Wright.

In his second incarnation, the Second Doctor would continue his travels with Ben and Polly, taking on Jamie McCrimmon, who would stick with him through his life. Along the way, The Doctor would also travel with Victoria Waterfield and Zoe Heriot. It was during this time that The Doctor would also meet Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, who would become an important figure during his most of his lives.

In exile is his third incarnation, the Third Doctor was forced to work with the Brigadier as UNIT's scientific advisor. Working initially with Liz Shaw, Mike Yates and John Benton, he would finally be able to travel again, first with Jo Grant, and later Sarah-Jane Smith.

In his fourth incarnation, continuing to travel with Sarah-Jane Smith and joined by Harry Sullivan, the Fourth Doctor would go on to travel with Naomi Cross, Leela of the Sevateem, Margaret Hopwood, two models of the robot dog K9, "Anne Kelso", Romana in two of her incarnations and Adric.

In his fifth incarnation, The Doctor continued travelling with Adric and took on Nyssa of Trakken and Tegan Jovanka, who he had met towards the end of his previous incarnation. Along the way, he would also travel with Marc, Thomas Brewster, Hannah Bartholomew, Vislor Turlough, Peri Brown and Erimem.

Still travelling with Peri in his sixth incarnation, The Doctor would travel with others including Frobisher, Evelyn Smythe, Charlotte Pollard (retroactively under the guise of Mila due to already travelling with his Eighth Incarnation), Flip Jackson, Constance Clarke, Melanie Bush and Hebe Harrison.

Continuing to travel with Mel in his seventh Incarnation, the Doctor would go on to be joined by Ace McShane, Bernice Summerfield, Hex Schofield, Sally Morgan, Lysandra Aristedes, Mags, Raine Creevy, Elizabeth Klein, Will Arrowsmith, Chris Cwej and Roz Forrester, though ultimately ended up travelling on his home.

The Eighth Doctor would find himself starting afresh, briefly meeting Grace Holloway and Chang Lee, before going on to travel with Izzy Sinclair, Fitz Kreiner, Charlotte Pollard, C'rizz, Mary Shelley, Lucie Miller, Tamsin Drew, Molly O'Sullivan, Liv Chenka, Helen Sinclair, Tania Bell, Andy Davidson and Bliss.

The War Doctor would go on to make a point of travelling alone, never taking on a travelling companion during his life.

Though he would continue travelling alone for much of his life, the Ninth Doctor would finally yield and take on Rose Tyler as a companion, and later Adam Mitchell, Captain Jack Harkness and Tara Mishra

In his tenth incarnation, The Doctor would continue travelling with Rose, though would later go on to travel with Mickey Smith, Martha Jones, a returning Captain Jack, Donna Noble, Gabby Gonzalez, Cindy Wu, Anya Kingdom and Mark Seven.

The Eleventh Doctor would start his travels with Amy Pond, going on to take on Rory Williams, Alice Obiefune, John Jones, ARC, The Squire, Abslom Daak, The Sapling, Valerie Lockwood and Clara Oswald.

Clara Oswald would continue to travel with the Twelfth Doctor, who would go on to travel with Hattie Munroe, Nardole and Bill Potts.

In her Thirteenth Incarnation, the Doctor would spend her entire incarnation travelling Yasmin Khan, being joined by Ryan Sinclair, Graham O'Brien and Dan Lewis.

Throughout many of their lives, The Doctor would constantly meet River Song, though on many occasions would be forced to forget their encounters to preserve the web of time.

And with that, I'm taking a nap - Dev~

[brokehorrorfan]

Best New Horror Movies on Netflix: Summer 2017

I know there's an overwhelming amount of horror movies to sift through on Netflix, so I've decided to take out some of the legwork by compiling a list of the season's best new genre titles on Netflix's instant streaming service.

Please feel free to leave a comment with any I may have missed and share your thoughts on any of the films you watch. You can also peruse past installments of Best New Horror Moves on Netflix for more suggestions.

1. Clown

Before Spider-Man: Homecoming swings into theaters, watch director Jon Watts' feature debut. Beginning as a faux-trailer that went viral, Clown was essentially willed into existence with the aid of genre favorite Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever) as a producer. Andy Powers (Oz) stars as a dad who comes across an old clown costume to wear to his son's birthday party, only to find that he physically cannot remove it. He then develops an insatiable hunger for children, soon learning that he must sacrifice five kids in order to remove the suit. Laura Allen (The 4400) plays his wife, while Peter Stormare (Fargo) provides the ancient, demonic history of clowns. Not your typical killer clown movie, Clown combines classic monster movie motifs, body horror elements, supernatural undertones, and gallows humor into one coulrophobic package. Read my full review of the film here.

2. Beyond the Gates

Beyond the Gates was clearly made by horror fans for fellow fans. The 80-minute romp can best be described as Jumanji meets The Beyond. Estranged brothers Gordon (Graham Skipper, Almost Human) and John (Chase Williamson, John Dies at the End), along with Gordon’s girlfriend, Margot (Brea Grant, Halloween II), find and play an old VCR game. They must obey the tape’s host (Barbara Crampton, Re-Animator) in order to solve the mystery of their father's disappearance. It's slightly hindered by a limited budget - the set-up is slow and the ending is a tad anticlimactic - but it's so spirited along the way that the faults barely register. First-time director Jackson Stewart taps into the VHS nostalgia to create a film that would feel perfectly at home on a mom-and-pop video store shelf in the late '80s. Read my full review of the film here.

3. The Eyes of My Mother

The Eyes of My Mother is too pensive for horror fans look for typical blood and scares, but those who appreciate arthouse fare are likely to get wrapped up in its unsettling tone. Writer/director Nicolas Pesce makes an impact with his debut, utilizing stark black-and-white photography to explore a character study illustrating the repercussions of murder. The story is told in three chapters, which each one showing a significant familial moment in a woman's life that shapes her into the disturbed individual she ultimately becomes. It’s a slow burn, even at a mere 76 minutess, but every moment is spent ruminating in its dark tone.

4. Backcountry

Backcountry is based on a true story of a black bear attack. The predator doesn't show up until two thirds of the way through the film; the rest of the time is spent developing the relationship between Alex (Jeff Roop) and Jenn (Missy Peregrym, Reaper), who embark on what's supposed to be a romantic and relaxing weekend hike through the woods. Tensions first rise upon the introduction of an Irish backpacker (Eric Balfour, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), then again when the couple gets lost in the dizzying forest. It finally takes the form of a suspenseful survival thriller when the ferocious bear begins attacking their campsite. The investment in character development is worthwhile, as it causes the viewer to care about them, thereby making the final act even more harrowing. Real bears were used during production, adding to the ripe intensity.

5. Dig Two Graves

The first act of Dig Two Graves could be mistaken for a coming-of-age drama - not only thematically but also stylistically - as a young girl (Samantha Isler, Captain Fantastic) from a podunk town attempts to reconcile with her brother's death. Things really heat up when a trio of creepy men tell her they can bring him back to life... but someone else has to take his place. The story is structured in an interesting way, sprinkling in flashbacks that contextualize the actions taking place in the present. Isler delivers a brilliant performance, as does Ted Levine (The Silence of the Lambs), who plays her grandfather, the town's sheriff.

6. XX

XX is a horror anthology made up of four segments written and directed by females, each one strong and unique. “The Box” by Jovanka Vuckovic adapts a Jack Ketchum short story about a boy who's forever changed upon seeing the contents of a mysterious box. “The Birthday Party” by Annie Clark (better known as musician St. Vincent) is a darkly comic tale about a woman who finds her husband dead on the day of her daughter's birthday party. “Don’t Fall” by Roxanne Benjamin (Southbound) turns a serene hike into a blood-thirsty creature feature. “Her Only Living Son” by Karyn Kusama (The Invitation) finds a mother learning a deep, dark secret about her son. There's not much of a through line outside of them all being female-led (3/4 of which are maternal roles), though neat stop-motion animation wraps around the tales. Several familiar faces populate the cast, including Melanie Lynskey (Heavenly Creatures), Natalie Brown (The Strain), and Mike Doyle (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit). It's no secret that we need more female voices in film, and XX is a potent declaration that's impossible to ignore.

7. Stake Land II: The Stakelander

Despite a terrible title that could be mistaken for a joke, Stake Land II: The Stakelander is a sequel to Stake Land, Jim Mickle's impressive 2010 vampire film (which you should watch first; it's also on Netflix). Mickle resigns to executive producer, but his co-writer, Nick Damici, returns to pen the script. Damici also reprises his role as Mister, reuniting with Connor Paolo as Martin. The vampire slaying duo embark on a journey across a Mad Max 2-style post-apocalyptic wasteland infested with ferocious vampires, which resemble zombies more than your traditional bloodsuckers. As is often the case, it's the other humans that prove to be the real threat. Like its predecessor, the film finds a rare balance between drama and intensity. It's not as effective as the original, but fans won't be disappointed by the follow-up.

8. Tag

Tag (also known as Riaru onigokko) is not for everyone, but it's too gleefully weird not to warrant a recommendation. Written and directed by Sion Sono (Suicide Club), the Japanese film opens with a bus full of school girls getting sliced in half in one fell swoop. It only gets stranger from there as the infinite possibilities of multiple universes are explored. One girl survives each time, continually awakening in different realities after watching all her friends get killed in gory fashions - including a teacher mowing down her class with a mini-gun. I thought it might be adapted from a manga, as it has that bizarre, fantastical feel to it, but it's instead based on a novel. It's dreamlike and absurd but not without heart.

9. The Windmill

The Windmill (formerly known as The Windmill Massacre) is a slasher film from the Netherlands, although it's (mostly) in English. It follows a guided bus tour of Holland that breaks down near a mysterious windmill. One by one, the passengers are picked off by a cool-looking killer armed with a scythe. With glossy production value and a dark tone, it feels more like a throwback to late '90s slashers rather than the golden age of the '80s - but there's still some solid gore and practical effects. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but the film offers a slightly more involved plot than the average slasher, including flawed characters and supernatural elements. It's also gleefully mean-spirited to the very end.

10. Man Vs.

As you may have guessed from the name, Man Vs. uses a survival reality show as the framing device for a creature feature. Doug (Chris Diamantopoulos, Silicon Valley) is the survival expert/host, filming himself in the Canadian wilderness - only to learn that he's not alone. It would have been cheaper to make a found footage film, but it's more effect as a traditional movie - though there are some shots from Doug's gear. The set-up is a bit slow, however you may learn some survival tips along the way. The story essentially becomes Survivorman vs. Predator in the final act. Unfortunately, the CGI creature is Syfy-level bad, preventing the big reveal from having much impact, but Diamantopoulos delivers a solid performance nonetheless.

11. Abattoir

Abattoir is directed by Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II-IV, Repo! The Genetic Opera), based on the same named graphic novel he created. It follows a real estate journalist (Jessica Lowndes, 90210) and a detective (Joe Anderson, The Crazies) as they investigate a series of houses in which tragedies occurred having the offending rooms torn out. They end up in a Twin Peaks-esque town where a local (Lin Shaye, Insidious) tells them of Jebediah Crone (Dayton Callie, Sons of Anarchy), an enigmatic reverend attempting to build a gateway to pure evil. Although set in the present, the picture is an unabashed love letter to film noirs of the 1940s and ‘50s. While the execution of the fascinating concept is lacking, Bousman manages to create a wonderfully imaginative neo-noir universe rife with spooky atmosphere. Read my full review here.

Bonus: The Keepers

If you were among the throngs of viewers morbidly captivated by Making a Murderer, The Keepers will be your new true crime fix. The Netflix original documentary series is every bit as compelling and frustrating as Making a Murderer, but the heinous crimes are even more stomach churning. The story revolves around an unsolved murder case of 26-year-old nun in 1969 and her then-students who have teamed up decades later to try to get to the truth. There appears to be a cover up that involves sexual abuse at the hands of a priest. The show consists of seven hour-long episodes. It probably could have been shaved down to five, but it's structured in such a way that make you want to keep binge watching.

Bonus: Riverdale: Season 1

Riverdale is like Twin Peaks meets Pretty Little Liars by way of Archie Comics. It reinvents the classic Archie characters for a modern audience with an interesting murder/mystery plot. I'm admittedly beyond the key demographic for the trashy teen drama that ensues, but the first season is fun enough, albeit inconsistent, to hook me. Several of the younger actors deliver great performances, given the heavy-handed material, but it's even more fun to see the parents played by '90s stars like Luke Perry (Beverly Hills, 90210), Mädchen Amick (Twin Peaks), Robin Givens (Head of the Class), and Skeet Ulrich (Scream). If you enjoy MTV's Scream, you'll likely get a kick out of this one as well.

[nyssausage]

She could do both.

Marry William Haybourne, adopt Andy Jovanka-Haybourne, divorce William, marry Michael Tanaka, divorce Michael, and eventually marry Nyssa.

Now Andy’s full name is Andrew William Jovanka-Haybourne-Tanaka-Traken.

when Tegan said she'd had two ex husbands and Nyssa wasn't mentioned I felt a great disturbance, as if millions of lesbians suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced

[fearsmagazine]

FEARS’s Film Forecast February 2017

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3

THE SPACE BETWEEN US

Studio/Distributor: STX Entertainment Director: Peter Chelsom Screenplay: Allan Loeb Stars: Gary Oldman, Asa Butterfield, Carla Gugino, B.D. Wong, & Britt Robertson. Official Site: stxmovies.com/thespacebetweenus Facebook: www.facebook.com/spacebetweenus Twitter: twitter.com/spacebetweenus  |  #TheSpaceBetweenUs Trailer: youtu.be/AFjJ7Itetgk

RINGS

Studio/Distributor: Paramount Pictures Director: F. Javier Gutiérrez Screenplay: David Loucka, Jacob Aaron Estes, & Akiva Goldsman; Based on Ring by Kôji Suzuki. Stars: Matilda Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki, Aimee Teegarden, Bonnie Morgan, & Vincent D’Onofrio. Official Site: ringsmovie.tumblr.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/RingsMovie Twitter: twitter.com/RingsMovie  |  @RingsMovie Trailer: youtu.be/p17DJbPRLc0

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10

FIFTY SHADES DARKER

Studio/Distributor: Universal Pictures Director: James Foley Screenplay: Niall Leonard; Based on Fifty Shades Darker by E. L. James. Stars: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Kim Basinger, Luke Grimes, Eloise Mumford, & Max Martini. Official Site: www.fiftyshadesmovie.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/fiftyshadesmovies Twitter: twitter.com/FiftyShades  |  @FiftyShades Trailer: youtu.be/n6BVyk7hty8

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2

Studio/Distributor: Summit Entertainment Director: Chad Stahelski Screenplay: Derek Kolstad Stars: Keanu Reeves, Common, Laurence Fishburne, Riccardo Scamarcio, Ruby Rose, John Leguizamo, & Ian McShane. Official Site: www.johnwick.movie Facebook: www.facebook.com/johnwickmovie Twitter: twitter.com/johnwickmovie  |  @JohnWickMovie Trailer: youtu.be/ChpLV9AMqm4

THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE (animated)

Studio/Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures Director: Chris McKay Screenplay: Seth Grahame-Smith, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Jared Stern, & John Whittington; Based on Batman by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Stars: Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, & Ralph Fiennes. Official Site: www.legobatman.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/LEGOBatmanMovie Twitter: twitter.com/legobatmanmovie  |  @LEGOBatmanMovie Trailer: youtu.be/rGQUKzSDhrg

HAVENHURST (limited)

Studio/Distributor: Brainstorm Media Director: Andrew C. Erin Screenplay: Andrew C. Erin & Daniel Farrands. Stars: Julie Benz, Fionnula Flanagan, Belle Shouse, Josh Stamberg, Danielle Harris, Dendrie Taylor, & Brian Howe. Official Site: N.A. Facebook:N.A. Twitter: N.A. Trailer: youtu.be/76kI8xdTXK0

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17

THE GREAT WALL

Studio/Distributor: Universal Pictures Director: Zhang Yimou Screenplay: Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro, & Tony Gilroy; Story by Max Brooks, Edward Zwick, & Marshall Herskovitz. Stars: Matt Damon, Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, & Andy Lau. Official Site: www.thegreatwallmovie.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/thegreatwallmovie Twitter: twitter.com/thegreatwall  |  @thegreatwall Trailer: youtu.be/avF6GHyyk5c

A CURE FOR WELLNESS

Studio/Distributor: 20th Century Fox Director: Gore Verbinski Screenplay: Justin Haythe; Story by Justin Haythe & Gore Verbinski Stars: Dane DeHaan, Jason Isaacs, & Mia Goth. Official Site: www.foxmovies.com/movies/a-cure-for-wellness Facebook: www.facebook.com/CureForWellness Twitter: twitter.com/cureforwellness  |  @CureForWellness Trailer: youtu.be/JF1rLFCdewU

XX (limited)

Studio/Distributor: Magnet Releasing Directors: Roxanne Benjamin, Sofia Carrillo, Karyn Kusama, St. Vincent, & Jovanka Vuckovic. Screenplay: Roxanne Benjamin, Jack Ketchum, & Jovanka Vuckovic. Stars: Natalie Brown, Melanie Lynskey, Breeda Wool, & Christina Kirk. Official Site: www.magnetreleasing.com/xx Facebook: www.facebook.com/xxfilm Twitter: twitter.com/XXtheMovie  |  @XXtheMovie Trailer: youtu.be/LGH-zJ9_uFs

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24

GET OUT

Studio/Distributor: Universal Pictures Director: Jordan Peele Screenplay: Jordan Peele Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, Lil Rel Howery, & Keith Stanfield Official Site: www.getoutfilm.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/GetOutMovie Twitter: twitter.com/getoutmovie  |  @GetOutMovie Trailer: youtu.be/sRfnevzM9kQ

DRIFTER (limited)

Studio/Distributor: XLrator Media Director: Chris von Hoffmann Screenplay: Chris von Hoffmann & Aria Emory Stars: Drew Harwood, Aria Emory, James McCabe, Monique Rosario, Rebecca Fraiser, & Anthony Ficco. Official Site: drifterfeaturefilm.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/DrifterFeatureFilm Twitter: twitter.com/drifterfeature  |  @DRIFTERfeature Trailer: youtu.be/onOJrxbdi4U

[chmcdo]

The 15 Best Horror Movies of 2017

The best horror movies of 2017 writhe in grief and mourning: Evil is mundane, they say—sure—but what does that actually mean about moving on with one’s life? In two of these films, the grief-stricken struggle to communicate with those they’ve lost, realizing the process of doing so is difficult, an incredibly tedious series of motions (much like one’s everyday life) in which we’re never really sure they’re succeeding, or just feeding their own serious neuroses, plunging them deeper into depression. One film is a musical reveling in the harshness of young love, in the terrifying lengths to which someone, women especially, are expected to go to be loved. One is the highest grossing horror film of all time, and another is a genre-transcending treatise on America’s treacherous post-Obama racial landscape, both changing the industry for low-budget genre films immeasurably. Even M. Night Shyamalan’s pulpy thriller ends on a surprisingly bleak note. In 2017, we’re just trying to find some way out of all of our most pessimistic impulses. We’re just trying to not wake up every day and assume the worst.

In other words, it was a fertile year for horror, America’s most vital form of filmmaking, especially for non-white, non-male voices laying waste to the genre’s most tired tropes. A number of titles almost made our list, worth mentioning: The Blackcoat’s Daughter, a film awe-struck with despair for humanity and a mind-bogglingly great performance from Kiernan Shipka; The Girl with All the Gifts; We Are the Flesh; Alien: Covenant, proving that the older Ridley Scott gets the grosser he’s willing to be; Happy Death Day; one of many good Stephen King adaptations this year (see below), Gerald’s Game; and The Killing of a Sacred Deer, which isn’t a horror movie but kind of works like one, and anyway it’s fine because you’ll see it on other lists elsewhere.

Here are the 15 best horror movies of 2017:

15. A Cure for Wellness Director: Gore Verbinski It’s a bit of a tragedy that Gore Verbinski’s delightfully bizarre, absurdly violent and grotesque A Cure For Wellness went largely unnoticed. Hollywood’s versatile trickster, Verbinski and screenwriter Justin Haythe go for broke cramming various sub-genres and mood-drenched tropes into an overstuffed, batshit-crazy horror epic, a loving nod to old Universal monster movies, among many, with the mad scientist conducting experiments that “defy god and nature” in a picturesque old castle perched atop a village that somehow skipped the 20th Century, Bojan Bazelli’s gorgeous cinematography taking full advantage of the Euro-gothic aesthetic. It’s a no-fucks-given gonzo experiment, laced with the riskiness of Giallo and the surrealist imagery of a Lynchian nightmare, disparate tones wrapped dreamily around an angry, blunt satire about the self-destructive, soul-sucking nature of greed and ambition. —Oktay Ege Kozak

14. XX Directors: Roxanne Benjamin, Annie Clark, Karyn Kusama, Jovanka Vuckovic, Sofia Carrillo It’s important that the scariest segment in XX, Magnet Releasing’s women-helmed horror anthology film, is also its most elementary: Young people trek out into the wilderness for fun and recreation, young people incur the wrath of hostile forces, young people get dead, easy as you please. You’ve seen this movie before, whether in the form of a slasher, a creature feature, or an animal attack flick. You’re seeing it again in XX in part because the formula works, and in part because the segment in question, titled “Don’t Fall,” must be elementary to facilitate its sibling chapters, which tend to be anything but. XX stands apart from other horror films because it invites its audience to feel a range of emotions aside from just fright. You might, for example, feel heartache during Jovanka Vuckovic’s “The Box,” or the uncertainty of dread in Karyn Kusama’s “Her Only Living Son,” or nauseous puzzlement with Sofia Carrillo’s macabre, stop-motion wraparound piece, meant to function as a palate cleanser between courses (an effectively unnerving work, thanks to its impressive technical achievements). Most of all, you might have to bite your tongue to keep from laughing uncontrollably during the film’s best short, “The Birthday Party,” written and directed by Annie Clark, better known by some as St. Vincent, in her filmmaking debut. XX is a horror movie spoken with the voices of women, a necessary notice that women are revolutionizing the genre as much as men. —Andy Crump

13. Split Director: M. Night Shyamalan Split is the film adaptation of M. Night Shyamalan’s misunderstanding of 30-year-old, since-discredited psychology textbooks on Dissociative Identity Disorder, but if we deign to treat it with scientific scrutiny, we’ll be here all night. Suffice it to say, don’t go looking at anything in this film as psychologically valid in any way. But do go see Split, because it’s probably M. Night Shyamalan’s best film since Signs. Or maybe since Unbreakable, for that matter. And if there’s one way that Splitreinvigorates Shyamalan’s stock most, it’s as a visual artist and writer-director of tension and thrilling action. The film looks spectacular, full of Hitchcockian homages that remind one of Vertigo and Psycho, to name only a few. It’s a far scarier, more suspenseful film in its high moments than Shyamalan’s last film, The Visit, ever attempted to be, and it may even be funnier as well, although these moments of levity are sown sparingly for maximum impact. Mike Gioulakis deserves major props for cinematography, but the other thing that will stick in my mind is the unexpectedly great sound design, full of rumbling, groaning metallic tones. After so many films that relied on the kind of overwrought twist ending that made The Sixth Sense so buzzy in 1999, it seems like Shyamalan has finally gotten over the hump to make the kinds of stories he makes best: atmospheric, suspenseful potboilers. Here’s hoping that this newfound streak of humility is here to stay. —Jim Vorel

12. Thelma Director: Joachim Trier Thelma (Eili Harboe) is a meek and quiet young woman moving away from her strict Christian parents (Henrik Rafaelsen, Ellen Dorit Petersen) for the first time in her life. To study Biology at a Norwegian university. She’s devoted to her faith and doesn’t indulge in alcohol, drugs or other earthly desires. But all of that changes when she sits next to Anja (Kaya Wilkins), a warm-hearted and empathetic schoolmate, during a study session. The two don’t even know each other yet, but Thelma’s close proximity to a girl she feels an intense attraction toward is enough to trigger a violent seizure, which may or may not be the result of her intense rejection of her feelings, spurned by her religious upbringing. With subtle yet passionate performances by its two leads, the film would have worked fine as a straight drama about Thelma’s journey towards (hopefully) acknowledging her nature. What makes Thelma so special is in the way Trier and co-writer Eskil Vogt wrap this already palpable drama around a fairly downplayed supernatural horror premise with surgical precision. —Oktay Ege Kozak

11. It Director: Andy Muschietti 2017 was the year of blockbuster horror, if ever such a thing has been quantifiable before. Get Out, Annabelle: Creation and even would-be direct-to-video gems such as 47 Meters Down turned sizable profits, but they were just priming the box office pump for It, which shattered nearly every horror movie record imaginable. Perhaps it was the uninspiring summer blockbuster season to thank for an audience starved for something, but just as much credit must go to director Andy Muschietti and, especially, to Pennywise star Bill Skarsgård for taking Stephen King’s famously cumbersome, overstuffed novel and transforming it into something stylish, scary and undeniably entertaining. The collection of perfectly cast kids in the Loser’s Club all have the look of young actors and actresses we’ll be seeing in film for decades to come, but it’s Skarsgård’s hypnotic face, lazy eyes and incessant drool that makes It so difficult to look away from (or forget, for that matter). The inevitable Part 2 will have its hands full in giving a similarly crackling translation to the less popular adult portion of King’s story, but the camaraderie Muschietti gets in his cast and the visual flair of this first It should give us ample reasons to be optimistic. Regardless, it’s impossible to dismiss the pop cultural impact that It will continue to have for a new generation discovering its well-loved characters. —Jim Vorel

10. The Lure Director: Agnieszka Smoczynska In Filmmaker Magazine, director Agnieszka Smoczynska called The Lure a “coming-of-age story” born of her past as the child of a nightclub owner: “I grew up breathing this atmosphere.” What she means to say, I’m guessing, is that The Lure is an even more restlessly plotted Boyhood if the Texan movie rebooted The Little Mermaid as a murderous synth-rock opera. (OK, maybe it’s nothing like Boyhood.) Smoczynska’s film resurrects prototypical fairy tale romance and fantasy without any of the false notes associated with Hollywood’s “gritty” reboot culture. Poland, the 1980s and the development of its leading young women provide a multi-genre milieu in which the film’s cannibalistic mermaids can sing their sultry, often violently funny siren songs to their dark hearts’re content. While Ariel the mermaid Disney princess finds empathy with young girls who watch her struggle with feelings of longing and entrapment, The Lure’s flesh-hungry, viscous, scaly fish-people are a gross, haptic and ultimately effective metaphor for the maturation of this same audience. In the water, the pair are innocent to the ways of humans (adults), but on land develop slimes and odors unfamiliar to themselves and odd (yet strangely attractive) to their new companions. Reckoning with bodily change, especially when shoved into the sex industry like many immigrants to Poland during the collapse of that country’s communist regime in the late ’80s, the film combines the politics of the time with the sexual politics of a girl becoming a woman (of having her body politicized). And though The Luremay bite off more human neck than it can chew, especially during its music-less plot wanderings, it’s just so wonderfully consistent in its oddball vision you won’t be able to help but be drawn in by its mesmerizing thrall. —Jacob Oller

9. The Transfiguration Director: Michael O’Shea Michael O’Shea’s The Transfiguration refreshingly refuses to disguise its influences and reference points, instead putting them all out there in the forefront for its audience’s edification, name-dropping a mouthful of noteworthy vampire films and sticking their very titles right smack dab in the midst of its mise en scène. They can’t be missed: Nosferatu is a big one, and so’s The Lost Boys, but none informs O’Shea’s film as much as Let the Right One In, the unique 2009 Swedish genre masterpiece. Like Tomas Alfredson’s bloodsucking coming-of-age tale, The Transfiguration casts a young’n, Milo (Eric Ruffin), as its protagonist, contrasting the horrible particulars of a vampire’s feeding habits against the surface innocence of his appearance. Unlike Let the Right One In, The Transfiguration may not be a vampire movie at all, but a movie about a lonesome kid with an unhealthy fixation on gothic legends. You may choose to view Milo as O’Shea’s modernized update of the iconic monster or a child brimming with inner evil; the film keeps its ends open, its truths veiled and only makes its sociopolitical allegories plain in its final, haunting images.

8. Creep 2 Director: Patrick Brice Creep was not a movie begging for a sequel. About one of cinema’s more unique serial killers—a man who seemingly needs to form close personal bonds with his quarry before dispatching them as testaments to his “art”—the 2014 original was self-sufficient enough. But Creep 2 is that rare follow-up wherein the goal seems to be not “let’s do it again,” but “let’s go deeper”—and by deeper, we mean much deeper, as this film plumbs the psyche of the central psychopath (who now goes by) Aaron (Mark Duplass) in ways both wholly unexpected and shockingly sincere, as we witness (and somehow sympathize with) a killer who has lost his passion for murder, and thus his zest for life. In truth, the film almost forgoes the idea of being a “horror movie,” remaining one only because we know of the atrocities Aaron has committed in the past, meanwhile becoming much more of an interpersonal drama about two people exploring the boundaries of trust and vulnerability. Desiree Akhavan is stunning as Sara, the film’s only other principal lead, creating a character who is able to connect in a humanistic way with Aaron unlike anything a fan of the first film might think possible. Two performers bare it all, both literally and figuratively: Creep 2 is one of the most surprising, emotionally resonant horror films in recent memory. —Jim Vorel

7. Prevenge Director: Alice Lowe Maybe getting close enough to gut a person when you’re seven months pregnant is a cinch—no one likely expects an expecting mother to cut their throat—but all the positive encouragement Ruth’s (Alice Lowe) unborn daughter gives her helps, too. The kid spends the film spurring her mother to slaughter seemingly innocent people from in utero, an invisible voice of incipient malevolence sporting a high-pitched giggle that’ll make your skin crawl. “Pregnant lady goes on a slashing spree at the behest of her gestating child” sounds like a perfectly daffy twist on one of the horror genre’s most enduring contemporary niches on paper. In practice it’s not quite so daffy, more somber than it is silly, but the bleak tone suits what writer, director, and star Lowe wants to achieve with her filmmaking debut. Another storyteller might have designed Prevenge as a more comically-slanted effort, but Lowe has sculpted it to smash taboos and social norms. Because Prevengehates human beings with a disturbing passion—even human beings who aren’t selfish, awful, creepy or worse—in it, child-rearing is a form of real-life body horror that’s as smartly crafted and grimly funny as it is terrifying. —Andy Crump / Full Review

6. mother! Director:   Darren Aronofsky   Try as you might to rationalize Darren Aronofsky’s mother!, mother! does not accept rationalization. There’s little reasonable ways to construct a single cohesive interpretation of what the movie tries to tell us. There is no evidence of Aronosfky’s intention beyond what we’ve intuited from watching his films since the ’90s. The most ironclad comment you can make about mother! is that it’s basically a matryoshka doll layered with batshit insanity. Unpack the first, and you’re met immediately by the next tier of crazy, and then the next, and so on, until you’ve unpacked the whole thing and seen it for what it is: A spiritual rumination on the divine ego, a plea for environmental stewardship, an indictment of entitled invasiveness, an apocalyptic vision of America in 2017, a demonstration of man’s tendency to leech everything from the women they love until they’re nothing but a carbonized husk, a very triggering reenactment of the worst house party you’ve ever thrown. mother! is a kitchen sink movie in the most literal sense: There’s an actual kitchen sink here, Aronofsky’s idea of a joke, perhaps, or just a necessarily transparent warning. mother! is about everything. Maybe the end result is that it’s also about nothing. But it’s really about whatever you can yank out of it, it’s elasticity the most terrifying thing about it. —Andy Crump

5. Personal Shopper Director: Olivier Assayas The pieces don’t all fit in Personal Shopper, but that’s much of the fun of writer-director Olivier Assayas’s enigmatic tale of Maureen (Kristen Stewart, a wonderfully unfathomable presence), who may be in contact with her dead twin brother. Or maybe she’s being stalked by an unseen assailant. Or maybe it’s both. To attempt to explain the direction Personal Shopper takes is merely to regurgitate plot points that don’t sound like they belong in the same film. But Assayas is working on a deeper, more metaphorical level, abandoning strict narrative cause-and-effect logic to give us fragments of Maureen’s life refracted through conflicting experiences. Nothing happens in this film as a direct result of what came before, which explains why a sudden appearance of suggestive, potentially dangerous text messages could be interpreted as a literal threat, or as some strange cosmic manifestation of other, subtler anxieties. Personal Shopperencourages a sense of play, moving from moody ghost story to tense thriller to (out of the blue) erotic character study. But that genre-hopping (not to mention the movie’s willfully inscrutable design) is Assayas’s way of bringing a lighthearted approach to serious questions about grieving and disillusionment. The juxtaposition isn’t jarring or glib—if anything, Personal Shopper is all the more entrancing because it won’t sit still, never letting us be comfortable in its shifting narrative. —Tim Grierson

4. A Dark Song Director: Liam Gavin In Liam Gavin’s black magic genre oddity, Sophia (Catherine Walker), a grief-stricken mother, and the schlubby, no-nonsense occultist (Steve Oram) she hires devote themselves to a long, meticulous, painstaking ritual in order to (they hope) communicate with her dead son. Gavin lays out the ritual specifically and physically—over the course of months of isolation, Sophia undergoes tests of endurance and humiliation, never quite sure if she’s participating in an elaborate hoax or if she can take her spiritual guide seriously when he promises her he’s succeeded in the past. Paced to near perfection, A Dark Song is ostensibly a horror film but operates as a dread-laden procedural, mounting tension while translating the process of bereavement as patient, excruciating manual labor. In the end, something definitely happens, but its implications are so steeped in the blurry lines between Christianity and the occult that I still wonder what kind of alternate realms of existence Gavin is getting at. But A Dark Song thrives in that uncertainty, feeding off of monotony. Sophia may hear phantasmagorical noise coming from beneath the floorboards, but then substantial spans of time pass without anything else happening, and we begin to question, as she does, whether it was something she did wrong (maybe, when tasked with not moving from inside a small chalk circle for days at a time, she screwed up that portion of the ritual by allowing her urine to dribble outside of the boundary) or whether her grief has blinded her to an expensive con. Regardless, that “not knowing” is the scary stuff of everyday life, and by portraying Sophia’s profound emotional journey as a humdrum trial of physical mettle, Gavin reveals just how much pointless, even terrifying work it can be anymore to not only live the most ordinary of days, but to make it to the next. —Dom Sinacola

3. Raw Director: Julia Ducournou If you’re the proud owner of a twisted sense of humor, you might sell your friends on Julia Ducournau’s Raw as a coming-of-age movie in a bid to trick them into seeing it. Yes, the film’s protagonist, naive incoming college student Justine (Garance Marillier), comes of age over the course of its running time: She parties, she breaks out of her shell and she learns about who she really is on the verge of adulthood. But most kids who discover themselves in the movies don’t realize that they’ve spent their lives unwittingly suppressing an innate, nigh-insatiable need to consume raw meat. Allow Ducournau her cheekiness: More than a wink and nod to the picture’s visceral particulars, her film’s title is an open concession to the harrowing quality of Justine’s grim blossoming. Nasty as the film gets, and it does indeed get nasty, the harshest sensations Ducournau articulates here tend to be the ones we can’t detect by merely looking. Fear of feminine sexuality, family legacies, popularity politics and the uncertainty of self govern Raw’s horrors as much as exposed and bloody flesh. It’s a gorefest that offers no apologies and plenty more to chew on than its effects. —Andy Crump

2. It Comes at Night Director: Trey Edward Shults It Comes at Night is ostensibly a horror movie, moreso than Shults’s debut, Krisha, but even Krisha was more of a horror movie than most measured family dramas typically are. Perhaps knowing this, Shults calls It Comes at Night an atypical horror movie, but—it’s already obvious after only two of these—Shults makes horror movies to the extent that everything in them is laced with dread, and every situation suffocated with inevitability. For his sophomore film, adorned with a much larger budget than Krisha and cast with some real indie star power compared to his previous cast (of family members doing him a solid), Shults imagines a near future as could be expected from a somber flick like this. A “sickness” has ravaged the world and survival is all that matters for those still left. In order to keep their shit together enough to keep living, the small group of people in Shults’s film have to accept the same things the audience does: That important characters will die, tragedy will happen and the horror of life is about the pointlessness of resisting the tide of either. So it makes sense that It Comes at Night is such an open wound of a watch, pained with regret and loss and the mundane ache of simply existing: It’s trauma as tone poem, bittersweet down to its bones, a triumph of empathetic, soul-shaking movie-making. —Dom Sinacola

1. Get Out Director:   Jordan Peele   Peele’s a natural behind the camera, but Get Out benefits most from its deceptively trim premise, a simplicity which belies rich thematic depth. Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and Rose (Allison Williams) go to spend a weekend with her folks in their lavish upstate New York mansion, where they’re throwing the annual Armitage bash with all their friends in attendance. Chris immediately feels out of place; events escalate from there, taking the narrative in a ghastly direction that ultimately ties back to the unsettling sensation of being the “other” in a room full of people who aren’t like you—and never let you forget it. Put indelicately, Get Out is about being black and surrounded by whites who squeeze your biceps without asking, who fetishize you to your face, who analyze your blackness as if it’s a fashion trend. At best Chris’s ordeal is bizarre and dizzying, the kind of thing he might bitterly chuckle about in retrospect. At worst it’s a setup for such macabre developments as are found in the domain of horror. That’s the finest of lines Peele and Get Out walk without stumbling. —Andy Crump

[welcometoprime-time]

Shameless Promotion Part 7: XX (2017)

Welcome one and all to the latest instalment of "Shameless Promotion". In my past posts I have talked about everything from Raleigh Ritchie to Lore to my latest post about Dead Awake  This post will be about another horror film that is more than just another horror film, "XX". I bought "XX" from Amazon on DVD. "XX" is a horror anthology that is written and directed by an all female roster. The film is broken into 4 segments and linked together by a rather unsettling animation of a walking dollhouse directed by Sofia Carrillo. The first segment is entitled "The Box" which is directed by Jovanka Vuckovic and based on the short story of the same title written by Jack Ketchum. The story follows a seemingly normal family who are travelling on a train. The son, Danny, meets a man with a box and curiosity gets the better of the child as he asks to see what's inside the box. The man obliges and soon after Danny refuses to eat. The same fate befalls the rest of the family except the mother, Susan, who is baffled as to why her family have stopped eating after finding out what is in the box. The second segment is entitled "The Birthday Party" and is directed by Annie Clark and written by Clark and Roxanne Benjamin. This story follows Mary, a frustrated and slightly odd mother as shes plans her daughter, Lucy's, birthday party. Things get a little stressful as Mary discovers her husbands dead body in his office. What happens next is a mixture of terror and farcical comedy. The third segment is entitled "Don't Fall" which is written and directed by Roxanne Benjamin. This story follows four friends: Paul, Jay, Gretchen and Jess as they are in the desert exploring. The friends discover a sinister cave painting depicting a strange creature that soon begins to make its presence felt. The fourth and final segment is entitled "Her Only Living Son" which is written and directed by Karyn Kusama. This story follows Cora and her wayward son Andy. Cora is called to her sons school after he attacks a classmate. His behaviour has become more and more dark and he seems to be going through a few more changes than the normal puberty issues. What transpires next is a subtle nod to a classic horror film about the spawn of a certain dark lord. "XX" is being celebrated for one simple reason; all of the films are directed by female directors, hence "XX". Whilst I think this an incredible achievement I think it's also sad that more female writers and directors aren't given a chance especially in the horror genre. "XX" is a fantastic film that is a testament to how four very different films can show the true versatility of the horror genre. "The Box" is generally unsettling in the best way. I was baffled and confused as to what was in the box and why it caused such a devastating effect on the family involved. This segment played on the age old belief that sometimes a persons curiosity can get the better of them, "The Birthday Party" is darkly funny and as I said farcical in places to the point I found myself laughing at such an unfortunate event.   "Don't Fall" plays into a more modern horror style featuring possession and the tragic group of friends that fall into predictable characteristics. "Her Only Living Son" is an enjoyable mix of modern gore filled horror and classic horror story telling. All in all "XX" has something for every type of horror fan, each writer and director brings their own unique voice and vision for what a horror film should be and I would love to see if these films could perhaps translate into long form feature films. Whilst I felt "Don't Fall" felt a bit flat I was still entertained. "The Box" is by far the best segment of the film as I was genuinely disturbed by it. I would also like to talk about the animated segments that tie the whole film together. It was delightfully strange and just weird. I may have to find some more of Sofia Carillos work. Overall "XX" is another horror film that has fallen under the radar slightly. I thoroughly enjoyed "XX" as it was something refreshing and original in the sometimes repetitive horror genre. As always if you have any comments or thoughts please leave a comment below or follow my on social media by clicking one of the links at the right hand side of the homepage.

[nolanmcbride]

XX (2017) Review

XX is an anthology horror film written and directed solely by women and featuring women in all the lead roles. It’s the first of its kind, created as a direct response to the lack of opportunities for women to direct horror films. I think the political context of this particular film is important to acknowledge, but at its core, XX is just a good horror anthology. Each of its segments plays like an episode of The Twilight Zone or Tales from the Crypt with a distinctly female perspective. Female-led (and directed) horror films are not new, but few are truly interested in exploring women’s experiences, which is part of what makes XX special.

The first segment is “The Box,” adapted from a Jack Ketchum short story and directed by Jovanka Vuckovic. In it, Natalie Brown (Channel Zero, The Strain) struggles to understand why her son has stopped eating following an incident on the train with a stranger and his mysterious wrapped gift. Vuckovic, whose previous credits include a number of horror shorts, directs with skill and confidence, infusing a mundane setting with sinister dread. The segment’s aesthetic—immaculate domesticity—contrasts sharply with the protagonist’s struggle to fit the mold of a traditional mother or connect with her family. The story is perfectly self-contained, always teasing out the mystery but never revealing more than necessary.

“The Birthday Party” is the directorial debut of Annie Clark, better known as the musician St. Vincent. Melanie Lynskey (Heavenly Creatures, Togetherness) plays an overwhelmed mother struggling to ensure her daughter’s birthday party goes off without a hitch. Clark’s segment is about the horror of anxiety and how anxiety can turn a bad situation into a catastrophic one. Lynskey gives a hell of a performance, juggling grief, paranoia, forced geniality and, finally, exhaustion. It’s not scary in the traditional sense—and actually leans more towards black comedy—but Clark does a great job conveying the anxiety, and resulting fear, experienced by the protagonist. There are a number of tense scenes that are ratcheted up by the great score, which Clark also composed.

The third segment is by horror anthology veteran Roxanne Benjamin, who made her directorial debut with a great short in last year’s Southbound. “Don’t Fall” opens with a foreboding bang—an ever-widening shot of a group of young adults on an expedition in the desert that pulls out further and further until the title card overlays it and the characters are dwarfed by the ominous imperative. The group discovers an ancient cave painting depicting an evil creature, which eventually takes form and attacks the group. This is the most straightforward of the segments and feels like a classic creature feature setup. My major complaint with Benjamin’s segment, which is not much of a real complaint, is that I wish it was a full-length feature instead of a short. It has a great setup, likeable characters, and a solid creature design, but it feels as though it ends just as its getting started.

The final segment is Karyn Kusama’s (The Invitation, Jennifer’s Body) “Her Only Living Son.” Single mother Cora (Christina Kirk) is struggling to raise her angry, seemingly sociopathic teenager, Andy, whose eighteenth birthday is only a day away. Andy physically harms animals and classmates, but the principal of his school makes excuses for his behavior, going so far as to punish his victims instead. As Andy begins to transform into something monstrous and a sinister conspiracy takes shape, Cora is forced to face her son and what he’s becoming. Kusama’s more adult, character-focused brand of horror carries over from The Invitation and feels right at home with this story, which plays out like a 25-minute sequel to another beloved horror film. Kirk (Powerless, Love Is Strange) delivers a nuanced performance as a mother that will do anything to protect her son even if she occasionally fears him or bows to his whims. This story feels especially pointed as it deals with how society often gives a free pass to bad men with a certain level of fame (e.g. movie star, athlete). Some of the dialogue feels like it was ripped right from current media coverage regarding domestic abuse and rape culture. The story ends on a poignant note, flipping expectations and signalling a rejection of traditionally masculine ideas.

The four segments are connected by stop-motion-animated interstitials (created by Sofia Carrillo) involving a walking dollhouse. I was unable to parse any narrative or connections from them, but they’re beautifully crafted and serve as a nice palette cleanser between stories.

Like most anthologies, XX is best taken as a whole. I think the bookends are the strongest segments, but “The Birthday Party” is notable for its black comedy and absurdity (including that Joe Swanberg cameo) and “Don’t Fall” is a fun change of pace from the rest. XX has its scary moments, but if you’re looking for a thrill ride, this is not the movie for you. Instead, it’s more of a slow burn, lacing its 80-minute running time with dread and tension. In a perfect world, we’ll get at least 2 more of these with a different set of female directors each time (like the V/H/S series). Here’s hoping XX makes a big enough splash to make that dream a reality.

[companion-showdown]

the next tournament is impossible Doctor-Companion pairings

hello hello, mini tournament time. first things first, nominations

you can nominate any doctor alongside any companion within the following rules

they MUST be an actual companion, not just any old character (I usually compare to this list, but I know its incomplete in some areas and includes characters i wouldn't consider companions in others so its not automatically qualifying or disqualifying)

the doctor and the companion cannot have met on screen, exceptions can be made if you have a compelling enough argument

they can have met in the eu provided it was only brief, so at most one story (i'm sure everyone has met everyone somewhere so it would be unreasonable to say otherwise)

in the hopes of this tournament not ballooning to ridiculous size, a maximum of one pairing per companion will be included in the tournament proper

Current Nominations:

1 and

Compassion

Tegan Jovanka (met in The Five Doctors)

Andy Davidson

Ace McShane

Jack Harkness

Rose Tyler

2 and

Amy Pond

Ponds

Vislor Turlough

Donna Noble

Jack Harkness

Yasmin Khan

Charley Pollard

Frobisher

Mel Bush

Clara Oswald

Bill Potts

3 and

Donna Noble

Martha Jones

Zoe Heriot

Ace McShane

Liv Chenka

Ponds

Missy

Donna Noble

4 and

Amy Pond

Bill Potts

Jack Harkness

Clara Oswald

Liz Shaw

River Song

5 and

Compassion

Bill Potts

The Fam

Jamie McCrimmon

Liz Shaw

6 and

Vislor Turlough

Anji Kapoor

Liz Shaw

Donna Noble

Romana II

Amy Pond

Clara Oswald

7 and

Bill Potts

Donna Noble

Clara Oswald

Compassion

Missy

Adric

River Song

8 and

Bill Potts

Clara Oswald

Ly-Chee the Wise

Adric

Chris Cwej

Sibling Different

Jack Harkness

Victoria Waterfield

Jamie McCrimmon

Kamelion

9 and

Donna Noble

Fitz Kreiner

Compassion

C'rizz

Martha Jones

Alison Cheney and Shalka!Master

Missy

Bernice Summerfield

Tegan Jovanka

Kroton

Chris Cwej

Nyssa

Jamie McCrimmon

Leela

River Song

Frobisher

Rory Williams

Chang Lee

Bill Potts

Sarah-Jane Smith

Clara Oswald

10 and

Fitz Kreiner

Missy

Nardole

Jamie McCrimmon

Nyssa

11 and

Bernice Summerfield

Ryan Sinclair

Dodo Chaplet

Missy

Frobisher

Dan Lewis

Jo Grant

Evelyn Smythe

12 and

Susan Foreman

Charley Pollard

Wolsey

Jamie McCrimmon

Evelyn Smythe

Compassion

Stacy Townsend

Ssard

Koschie

Kroton

Harry Sullivan

Yasmin Khan

Zoe Heriot

Leela

Romana I

Romana II

Barbara Wright

Liv Chenka

Ace McShane

Rose Tyler

Donna Noble

Peri Brown

Fitz Kreiner

Jack Harkness

Frobisher

Rory Williams

Kamelion

Ian Chesterton

Chang Lee

Sarah-Jane Smith

Dan Lewis

K9

C'rizz

Jo Grant

Amy Pond

13 and

Wolsey

Hex Schofield

Compassion

John & Gillian

Fitz Kreiner

Bill Potts

River Song

Ace McShane

Charley Pollard

Liv Chenka

Susan Foreman

Clara Oswald

Jamie McCrimmon

Zoe Heriot

Rose Tyler

14 and

Fitz Kreiner

Rory Williams

John & Gillian

Jack Harkness

Yasmin Khan

Jamie McCrimmon

K9

15 and

John & Gillian

Jack Harkness

Martha Jones

Jo Grant

Zoe Heriot

Jamie McCrimmon

Liz Shaw

War

River Song

Sarah-Jane Smith

Jamie McCrimmon

Bill Potts

Jo Grant

Fugitive

River Song

Compassion

Rose Tyler

Clara Oswald

Susan Foreman

Robert Banks Stewart Doctor

Compassion

Liz Shaw

Ly-Chee the Wise

The Infinity Doctor

Compassion

Fitz Kreiner

Merlin

Fitz Kreiner

Theta Sigma

Missy

Susan Foreman

Ace McShane

Donna Noble

Douglas Camfield Doctor and

Chris Cwej

Compassion

Shalka!Doctor and

Rose Tyler

Bill Potts

COFD 9 and

Rose Tyler

Missy

COFD 13 and

Yasmin Khan

Missy

nominations will be open for at least 24 hours (13:30 GMT (UTC+0) 23/12) but possibly more because busy time of year

[companion-showdown]

Best companion to get intoxicated with: Round 0 Masterpost

the elimintation numbers on the posts themselves are largely wrong because I made a mistake and only realised when it was too late, its two per group except 14 and 15 which is 3

Day 2

Elimination Groups:

Group 8 (2 eliminations)

God the Computer

Hallan

Hass

Hebe Harrison

Hex Schofield

Irving Braxiatel

Jack McSpringheel

Group 9 (2 eliminations)

Jane Austen

Jason Kane

John (Another Girl, Another Planet)

Joseph (Oh No it Isn't)

Joseph (The Doomsday Manuscript)

Koschei

Laura Tobin

Group 10 (2 eliminations)

Lola Denison

Mark Seven

McQueen!Master

Miranda Who

Mother Francesca

Mother Mathara

Mr Crofton

Group 11 (2 eliminations)

Ms Jones

Narvin

Pandora

Peter Summerfield

Preacher!Master

Renee Thalia

Romana III

Group 12 (2 eliminations)

Ruth Leonidus

Sabbath Dei

Sam Bishop

Scarlette

Stratum Seven Agent

Tameka Vito

The Black Dalek Leader

Group 13 (2 eliminations)

The Earl of Sandwich

The Original Golden Dalek Emperor

The War King

Unnamed Courtesan (In the Year of the Cat)

V.M.McCrimmon

Valarie Lockwood

Wolsey

Group 14 (3 eliminations)

Ianto Jones

Toshiko Sato

Owen Harper

Andy Davidson

Gwen Cooper

Banana Boat

The TARDIS

Missy

Group 15 (3 eliminations)

Sally Sparrow

Larry Nightingale

Bannakaffalatta

Vincent van Gogh

Madam Vastra

Psi

Saibra

Beep the Meep

Seeding Groups

Group 8

Charley Pollard

Evelyn Smythe

Lucie Miller

Liv Chenka

Group 9

Bernice Summerfield

Fitz Kreiner

Frobisher

Iris Wildthyme

Group 10

Rose Tyler

Mickey Smith

Jack Harkness

Martha Jones

Group 11

Donna Noble

Wilfred Mott

River Song

Amy Pond

Rory Williams

Group 12

Clara Oswald

Bill Potts

Nardole

Yasmin Khan

Group 13

Graham O'Brien

Ryan Sinclair

Dan Lewis

Ruby Sunday

day 1 under the cut

Day 1

Elimination Groups:

Group 1 (2 eliminations)

Sara Kingdom

Bret Vyon

Delgado!Master

Morbius

Sutekh the Destroyer

Cessiar of Diplos

Duggan

Group 2 (2 eliminations)

Erato

Pangol of Argolis

Deedrix of Tigella

Soldeed of Skonnos

The Three who Rule

Varsh

Group 3 (2 eliminations)

Keara

Tylos

Tremas of Traken

Panna

Karuna

Aris

Group 4 (2 eliminations)

Richard Mace

Kamelion

King Yrcanos

Sabalom Glitz

The Kandyman

Karra

Group 5 (2 eliminations)

Adrien Wall

Alan Turing

B-Aaron

C'rizz

Captain Black

Captain Magenta

Carmen Yeh

Group 6 (2 eliminations)

Chris Cwej

Clarence the Angel

Compassion

Cousin Anastasia

Cousin Gustav

Cousin Intrepid

Cousin Justine

Group 7 (2 eliminations)

Cousin Octavia

D'eon

Death's Head

Eliza

Elspeth (Where Angels Fear)

Emilie Mars-Smith

Father Kreiner

Seeding Groups

Group 1

Susan Foreman

Barbara Wright

Ian Chesterton

Vicki Pallister

Group 2

Steven Taylor

Dodo Chaplet

Ben Jackson

Polly Wright

Group 3

Jamie McCrimmon

Victoria Waterfield

Zoe Heriot

The Brigadier

Sergeant Benton

Group 4

Liz Shaw

Mike Yates

Jo Grant

Sarah-Jane Smith

Harry Sullivan

Group 5

Leela

K9

Romana I

Romana II

Group 6

Adric

Nyssa

Tegan Jovanka

Vislor Turlough

Group 7

Peri Brown

Mel Bush

Ace McShane

Chang Lee

Grace Holloway

[companion-showdown]

Showdown 2k24: Round 2

Everyone has been split into groups of 16 roughly by how well known they are and seeded within those groups to determin matches. There will be 16 polls posted every day (so two of the groups) except Friday. At the end of the round groups will be paired up and re-seeded ready for next time

the submission form for contestant propaganda is still open, you can find it here.

ROUND 1

Day 4

Mary Shelley vs Ikalla

Claudia Winkleman vs Cinder

Hector vs Sibling Different

Ruth Leonidas vs Susan Who

Alan Turing vs Peter Summerfield

John Lennon vs Dorothy (The Wonderful Doctor of Oz)

Tom Campbell vs Barusa

Peter Cushing vs Alison Cheney

Brian the Ood vs Penelope Gate

Hattie Munroe vs Gabby Gonzalez

Splinx vs Grayla

V.M.McCrimmon vs Patience

Andy Davidson vs Dormouse

The Squire vs Weeping Angel (Origins)

Cindy Wu vs Guinevere Winchester

Child Master (The Then and the Now) vs Koschei

previous and future days under the cut

Day 1

Jamie McCrimmon vs Sergeant Benton WINNER: Jamie McCrimmon

Vicki Pallister vs Zoe Heriot WINNER: Zoe Heriot

Barbara Wright vs Steven Taylor WINNER: Barbara Wright

Victoria Waterfield vs Sarah-Jane Smith WINNER: Sarah-Jane Smith

Jo Grant vs The Brigadier WINNER: Jo Grant

Ian Chesterton vs Leela WINNER: Leela

Liz Shaw vs Polly Wright WINNER: Liz Shaw

Dodo Chaplet vs Susan Foreman WINNER: Susan Foreman

Charley Pollard vs Mark Seven WINNER: Charley Pollard

Cass Fermazzi vs Molly O'Sullivan WINNER: Molly O'Sullivan

Oliver Harper vs Liv Chenka WINNER: Liv Chenka

C'rizz vs Lucie Miller WINNER: Lucie Miller

Iris Wildthyme vs Anya Kingdom WINNER: Iris Wildthyme

Erimem vs Bliss WINNER: Bliss

Hex Schofield vs Helen Sinclair WINNER: Helen Sinclair

Tania Bell vs Evelyn Smythe WINNER: Evelyn Smythe

Day 2

Bill Potts vs Nardole WINNER: Bill Potts

The TARDIS vs River Song WINNER: The TARDIS

Wilfred Mott vs Jack Harkness WINNER: Wilfred Mott

Amy Pond vs Martha Jones WINNER: Martha Jones

Clara Oswald vs Rory Williams WINNER: Clara Oswald

Ruby Sunday vs Rose Noble WINNER: Rose Noble

Kate Stewart vs Canton Everette Deleware III WINNER: Kate Stewart

Missy vs Donna Noble WINNER: Donna Noble

Bernice Summerfield vs Marie (Alien Bodies) WINNER: Bernice Summerfield

Chris Cwej vs Business Woman WINNER: Chris Cwej

Roz Forrester vs The Mortimer family WINNER: Roz Forrester

Rosie Taylor vs Compassion WINNER: Compassion

Fitz Kreiner vs Serena WINNER: Fitz Kreiner

Badger vs Wolsey WINNER: Wolsey

Sam Jones vs Claudia Marwood WINNER: Sam Jones

Homunculette vs Anji Kapoor WINNER: Anji Kapoor

Day 3

Ace McShane vs Mags WINNER: Ace McShane

Romana I vs Nyssa WINNER: Nyssa

Romana II vs Ryan Sinclair WINNER: Romana II

Graham O'Brien vs Mel Bush WINNER: Mel Bush

Vislor Turlough vs K9 WINNER: K9

Chang Lee vs Tegan Jovanka WINNER: Tegan Jovanka

Inston-Vee Vinder vs Grace Holloway WINNER: Inston-Vee Vinder

Peri Brown vs Yasmin Khan WINNER: Yasmin Khan

Frobisher vs ARC WINNER: Frobisher

Duh vs Josie Day WINNER: Josie Day

Ssard vs Chantir WINNER: Ssard

Gus Goodman vs Izzy Sinclair WINNER: Izzy Sinclair

Rose-the-cat vs Abslom Daak WINNER: Rose-the-cat

Majenta Pryce vs Maxwell Edison WINNER: Majenta Pryce

Kroton vs Ly-Chee the Wise WINNER: Kroton

Fey Truscott-Sade vs Destrii WINNER: Destrii

[companion-showdown]

Showdown 2k24 Masterpost

For round 3 everyone has been split into groups roughly by how well known they are and seeded within those groups to determin matches. After that the final seeding and bracketing was complete. There will be 16 polls posted every day except Friday. At the end of the round everyone will be given their final seed and be placed into one big group

the submission form for contestant propaganda is still open, you can find it here.

ROUND 1 ROUND 2

FINALS

1st place: Donna Noble vs Martha Jones

3rd place: Ace McShane vs Bill Potts

SEMIFINALS

Ace McShane vs Donna Noble WINNER: Donna Noble

Martha Jones vs Bill Potts WINNER: Martha Jones

QUARTERFINALS

Ace McShane vs Bernice Summerfield WINNER: Ace McShane

Donna Noble vs Barbara Wright WINNER: Donna Noble

Jamie McCrimmon vs Martha Jones WINNER: Martha Jones

Clara Oswald vs Bill Potts WINNER: Bill Potts

rounds 3-5 under the cut

ROUND 5

Ace McShane vs Sarah-Jane Smith WINNER: Ace McShane

Bernice Summerfield vs Brian the Ood WINNER: Bernice Summerfield

Donna Noble vs Evelyn Smythe WINNER: Donna Noble

Barbara Wright vs Frobisher WINNER: Barbara Wright

Jamie McCrimmon vs Jo Grant WINNER: Jamie McCrimmon

Susan Foreman vs Martha Jones WINNER: Martha Jones

Clara Oswald vs Nyssa WINNER: Clara Oswald

Alison Cheney vs Bill Potts WINNER: Bill Potts

ROUND 4

Ace McShane vs Susan Who WINNER: Ace McShane

Iris Wildthyme vs Sarah-Jane Smith WINNER: Sarah-Jane Smith

Bernice Summerfield vs Koschei WINNER: Bernice Summerfield

Compassion vs Brian the Ood WINNER: Brian the Ood

Donna Noble vs Alan Turing WINNER: Donna Noble

Fitz Kreiner vs Evelyn Smythe WINNER: Fitz Kreiner

Barbara Wright vs Anji Kapoor WINNER: Barbara Wright

Cindy Wu vs Frobisher WINNER: Frobisher

Jamie McCrimmon vs Andy Davidson WINNER: Jamie McCrimmon

Tegan Jovanka vs Jo Grant WINNER: Jo Grant

Susan Foreman vs Destrii WINNER: Susan Foreman

Lucie Miller vs Martha Jones WINNER: Marthe Jones

Clara Oswald vs Izzy Sinclair WINNER: Clara Oswald

Nyssa vs Charley Pollard WINNER: Nyssa

Mary Shelley vs Alison Cheney WINNER: Alison Cheney

Patience vs Bill Potts WINNER: Bill Potts

ROUND 3

Day 2

Bill Potts vs The TARDIS WINNER: Bill Potts

Wilfred Mott vs Martha Jones WINNER: Martha Jones

Clara Oswald vs Rose Noble WINNER: Clara Oswald

Kate Stewart vs Donna Noble WINNER: Donna Noble

Frobisher vs Majenta Pryce WINNER: Frobisher

Hattie Munroe vs Brian the Ood WINNER: Brian the Ood

Mary Shelley vs Kroton WINNER: Mary Shelley

Josie Day vs Alison Cheney WINNER: Alison Cheney

Destrii vs Cinder WINNER: Destrii

Tom Campbell vs Koschei WINNER: Tom Campbell

Rose-the-cat vs Susan Who WINNER: Susan Who

Ssard vs Izzy SInclair WINNER: Izzy Sinclair

Alan Turing vs Hector WINNER: Hector

Dorothy (The Wonderful Doctor of Oz) vs Andy Davidson WINNER: Andy Davidson

Splinx vs Cindy Wu WINNER: Cindy Wu

Weeping Angel (Origins) vs Patience WINNER: Patience

Day 1

Jamie McCrimmon vs K9 WINNER: Jamie McCrimmon

Tegan Jovanka vs Mel Bush WINNER: Tegan Jovanka

Barbara Wright vs Zoe Heriot WINNER: Barbara Wright

Liz Shaw vs Susan Foreman WINNER: Susan Foreman

Yasmin Khan vs Nyssa WINNER: Nyssa

Leela vs Jo Grant WINNER: Jo Grant

Sarah-Jane Smith vs Romana II WINNER: Sarah-Jane Smith

Inston-Vee Vinder vs Ace McShane WINNER: Ace McShane

Charley Pollard vs Helen Sinclair WINNER: Charley Pollard

Wolsey vs Lucie Miller WINNER: Lucie Miller

Anji Kapoor vs Molly O'Sullivan WINNER: Anji Kapoor

Sam Jones vs Iris Wildthyme WINNER: Iris Wildthyme

Evelyn Smythe vs Liv Chenka WINNER: Evelyn Smythe

Bliss vs Fitz Kreiner WINNER: Fitz Kreiner

Compassion vs Roz Forrester WINNER: Compassion

Chris Cwej vs Bernice Summerfield WINNER: Bernice Summerfield

[companion-showdown]

What is your favourite impossible Doctor-Companion pairings?

Step 1: Each companion can only enter the tournament proper with one doctor (unless there were too many nominations to decide in one poll), we must decide who gets which who

you will be getting half the polls tonight and half tomorrow because 47 of them is a lot to post at once

Day 1

Ace McShane

Adric

Amy Pond

Bernice Summerfield

Bill Potts

Business Woman

C'rizz

Chang Lee

Charley Pollard

Chris Cwej

Clara Oswald

Compassion poll 1

Compassion poll 2

Dan Lewis

Donna Noble

Evelyn Smythe

Fitz Kreiner poll 1

Fitz Kreiner poll 2

Frobisher

Jack Harkness

Jamie McCrimmon

Jo Grant

John and Gillian Who

K9

day 2 and auto-qualifiers under the cut

Day 2

Kamelion

Kroton

Leela

Liv Chenka

Liz Shaw

Ly-Chee

Martha Jones

Mel Bush

Miranda

Missy

Nyssa

The Ponds

River Song

Romana II

Rory Williams

Rose Tyler

Sarah-Jane Smith

Sibling Different

Susan Foreman

Vislor Turlough

Wolsey

Yasmin Khan

Zoe Heriot

finally - the pairings set in stone because only one got nominated for that companion:

Alison Cheney and Shalka!Master with 9

Andy Davison with 1

Anji Kapoor with 6

Barbara Wright with 12

Cinder with The Warrior

Dodo Chaplet with 11

The Fam with 5

Graham O'Brien with 2

Harry Sullivan with 12

Hex Schofield with 13

Ian Chesterton with 12

Koschei with 12

Nardole with 10

Peri Brown with 12

Romana I with 12

Ryan Sinclair with 11

Ssard with 12

Stacy Townsend with 12

Susan Who with 1

Tegan Jovanka with 9

Victoria Waterfiled with 8

Wilf with 12

[companion-showdown]

What is your favourite impossible Doctor-Companion combinations

this tournament was suggested by @pkmurasaki

SEMIFINALS:

Martha Jones with 9 vs Jo Grant with 15

Ace McShane with 12 vs River Song with 13

QUARTERFINALS:

Martha Jones with 9 vs Missy with 7

Susan Foreman with 12 vs Jo Grant with 15

Ace McShane with 12 vs Frobisher with 12

Jamie McCrimmon with 8 vs River Song with 13

previous rounds under the cut

ROUND 3:

Martha Jones with 9 vs Sarah-Jane Smith with 12 WINNER: Martha & 9

Missy with 7 vs Dodo Chaplet with 11 WINNER: Missy & 7

Susan Foreman with 12 vs Tegan Jovanka with 9 WINNER: Susan & 12

Jack Harkness with 15 vs Jo Grant with 15 WINNER: Jo & 15

Ace McShane with 12 vs Wilfred Mott with 12 WINNER: Ace & 12

Vislor Turlough with 6 vs Frobisher with 12 WINNER: Frobisher & 12

Leela with 9 vs Jamie McCrimmon with 8 WINNER: Jamie & 8

Evelyn Smythe with 12 vs River Song with 13 WINNER: River & 13

ROUND 2:

Martha Jones with 9 vs Andy Davidson with 1 WINNER: Martha & 9

Sarah-Jane Smith with 12 vs K9 with 12 WINNER: Sarah-Jane & 12

Missy with 7 vs Yasmin Khan with COFD 13 WINNER: Missy & 7

Dodo Chaplet with 11 vs Koschei with 12 WINNER: Dodo & 11

Susan Foreman with 12 vs Bernice Summerfield with 9 WINNER: Susan & 12

The Ponds with 2 vs Tegan Jovanka with 9 WINNER: Tegan & 9

Jack Harkness with 15 vs John & Gillian Who with 13 WINNER: Jack & 15

Hex Schofield with 13 vs Jo Grant with 15 WINNER: Jo & 15

Ace McShane with 12 vs Kroton with 9 WINNER: Ace & 12

C'rizz with 9 vs Wilfred Mott with 12 WINNER: Wilf & 12

Compassion with The Valeyard vs Vislor Turlough with 6 WINNER: Turlough & 6

Romana I with 12 vs Frobisher with 12 WINNER: Frobisher & 12

Alison Cheney & Shalka!Master with 9 vs Leela with 9 WINNER: Leela & 9

Anji Kapoor with 6 vs Jamie McCrimmon with 8 WINNER: Jamie & 8

Chang Lee with 9 vs Evelyn Smythe with 12 WINNER: Evelyn & 12

The Fam with 5 vs River Song with 13 WINNER: River & 13

ROUND 1: Group Stage

despite over 64 pairings, we have slightly the wrong number for a tournament of 64 so the group stage will bring us down to 32

Group 1:

Bill Potts with 13

Clara Oswald with 13

Donna Noble with 9

Jack Harkness with 15

Martha Jones with 9

Group 2:

Nardole with 10

River Song with 13

Rory Williams with 12

Rose Tyler with 13

Ryan Sinclair with 11

Wilfred Mott with 12

Group 3:

Ace McShane with 12

Barbara Wright with 12

Chang Lee with 12

Dodo Chaplet with 11

Ian Chesterton with 12

Harry Sullivan with 12

Group 4:

Jo Grant with 15

K9 with 12

Kamelion with 12

Leela with 9

Liz Shaw with 15

Mel Bush with 12

Group 5:

Nyssa with 9

Peri Brown with 12

Romana I with 12

Romana II with 12

Sarah-Jane Smith with 12

Susan Foreman with 12

Group 6:

Bernice Summerfield with 9

Charley Pollard with 13

Evelyn Smythe with 12

Fitz Kreiner with 9

Frobisher with 12

Liv Chenka with 13

Group 7:

Alison Cheney and Shalka!Master with 9

Business Woman with 9

C'rizz with 9

Chris Cwej with 8

Compassion with 12

Hex Schofield with 13

Group 8:

Gillian and John Who with 13

Koschei with 12

Kroton with 9

Miranda Dawkins with 9

Ssard with 12

Stacy Townsend with 12

Group 9:

Amy Pond with 6

Dan Lewis with 6

The Fam with 5

Graham O'Brien with 2

Missy with 7

The Ponds with 2

Group 10:

Adric with 8

Jamie McCrimmon with 8

Victoria Waterfield with 8

Vislor Turlough with 6

Zoe Heriot with 3

Group 11:

Susan Who with 1

Andy Davidson with 1

Anji Kapoor with 6

Compassion with The Valeyard

Ly-Chee with 8

Sibling Different with 8

Group 12:

Yasmin Khan with COFD 13

Cinder with The Warrior

Fitz Kreiner with Theta Stigma

Tegan Jovanka with 9

Wolsey with 13

Links to previous tournaments