This summer, the simultaneous release of Barbie and Oppenheimer became more than an impressive time for the box office. It was a full-on cultural phenomenon the likes of which hasn't been seen for a long time going so far as to get its own moniker -- Barbenheimer. It's no surprise that such a massive event would spark the attention of those making films about and inspired by the phenomenon and in August, Charles Band, the creator of the Puppet Master horror franchise, announced that he is producing a film called Barbenheimer about dolls trying to make a nuke. Now, Band has revealed that film's synopsis.

The film is set to follow Dr. Bambi J. Barbenheimer, described as a "brilliant scientist doll living in Dolltopia, a world of endless summers and beach parties" and her boyfriend Twink Dollman. However, incensed by the brutal treatment dolls receive at the hands of human children, Dr. Barbenheimer ventures into the real world and experiences humanity at its worst and decides to build a giant nuclear bomb to take it all out. "They got great looks and a super attitude. Oh, and now they've got the bomb," the synopsis reads (via The Hollywood Reporter.)

While the synopsis might sound a little silly, Band isn't denying that. In fact, the filmmaker embraces it and says that the world needs a little humor.

"It's so silly," Band says. "But it seems like every other feature is dark and depression, it's like, god, we need a little humor going into 2024."

Band is also open about the film being an attempt to cash in on the "Barbenheimer" cultural phenomenon.

"It's 100 percent true," he said. "But it's also an opportunity to have fun with the bizarre coupling of these two movies and the combination of Barbie's vibe and the darkness of Oppenheimer. You mix that together and you have such an opportunity for dark humor.

The Actual Barbie Movie Almost Poked Fun At A Movie Other Than The "Snyder Cut" of Justice League

During a recent appearance at the Writers Guild of America West headquarters, Barbie director and co-writer Greta Gerwig revealed that the film's reference to the "Snyder Cut" of Justice League -- with Barbie (Alexandra Shipp) admitting she felt like she was "very invested" in the film while brainwashed by the hyper-masculine Kens -- wasn't in the original script. Instead, there was actually a line referencing 1982's Blade Runner, and the infamous debate over its voiceover element.

"One of the Barbies says to Ken, 'Oh my god, I never would have realized that Deckard was a replicant,'" Gerwig recalled with a laugh. "Then when she gets unbrainwashed, there's a version where she said, 'I liked the voiceover. I needed it to help me understand what was happening. Nobody's following this.'"

According to co-writer Noah Baumbach, there were very brief plans to include Blade Runner director Ridley Scott in Barbie in a cameo appearance, but it did not pan out.

"It wasn't making fun of him. We loved him as we love all of our references," Baumbach said, with Gerwig adding, "Every reference we had was out of love. We love Sly Stallone. Everything was a lighters-up tribute."

2023 has been a big year for horror, and one of the first hits of the year was M3GAN, the story of an AI doll who goes rogue. The movie earned a 93% critics score and a 78% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and a sequel was teased soon after the film was released. James Wan, who has a story credit on the film in addition to producing the project, recently spoke with Empire Magazine and teased the return of M3GAN in M3GAN 2.0.

"It's early yet, but M3GAN is coming back in a big way," Wan shared. "The first film came just at the right time [when concerns about AI were mounting], and we're definitely leaning into that on the next one. We're exploring the AI universe even further."

At the beginning of the year, it was revealed that Blumhouse w beould merging with James Wan's Atomic Monster, and an article from The New York Times teased the future of M3GAN.

"It was actually Mr. Wan who got the ball rolling on M3GAN," the article revealed. "Atomic Monster first pitched the idea to Warner Bros. executives, who passed, in part because Warner already has the Annabelle evil doll series. Mr. Wan then brought the project to Mr. [Jason] Blum, who pounced. Universal is so pleased with how M3GAN turned out that it is already talking about a M3GAN sequel. TikTok posts tagged #M3GAN have been viewed 300 million times since the trailer was released a month ago."

What Is M3GAN About?

You can read the official synopsis for M3GAN here: "M3GAN is a marvel of artificial intelligence, a life-like doll programmed to be a child's greatest companion and a parent's greatest ally. Designed by brilliant toy-company roboticist Gemma (Get Out's Allison Williams), M3GAN can listen and watch and learn as she becomes friend and teacher, playmate and protector, for the child she is bonded to. When Gemma suddenly becomes the caretaker of her orphaned 8-year-old niece, Cady (Violet McGraw, The Haunting of Hill House), Gemma's unsure and unprepared to be a parent. Under intense pressure at work, Gemma decides to pair her M3GAN prototype with Cady in an attempt to resolve both problems -- a decision that will have unimaginable consequences."

Stay tuned for more updates about the M3GAN sequel. In the meantime, the first film is currently available to watch on Amazon's Prime Video.

Terrifier 2 set the box office on fire in a way that made it one of the biggest surprises of the year, and the wait for Terrifier 3 just got shorter. Director Damien Leone and Bloody Disgusting confirmed the news, revealing that the Terrifier 3 release date will be October 25, 2024. Though Terrifier 3 will debut in theaters in time for Halloween, the slasher sequel will actually be set at Christmas time, joining a rare collection of holiday-themed horrors that we can enjoy in October and in December. Currently no other movies are scheduled to be released in theaters on October 25, 2024, but the untitled Smile sequel is set to arrive the week before, October 18, 2024.

"Terrifier 2's remarkable success was driven not only by the insatiable appetite for new and thrilling horror icons like Art the Clown but also by its unparalleled theatrical release and marketing, along with its unyielding spirit," Leone said in a statement about Terrifier 3's release date. "In a cinematic landscape where risk-taking is scarce, I will continue to push boundaries in Terrifier 3, and I can't wait for you to see what's in store for Art the Clown."

"It achieved revenues of roughly 60 times the production cost and was powered almost exclusively by social marketing," Cineverse chairman and CEO Chris McGurk previously said of Terrifier 3. "We are thrilled that Damien and Phil have chosen to stay true to the franchise and keep the film uncut and independent vs. going the studio route. We aim to make this film the centerpiece of our releasing strategy which is focused on creator-friendly collaboration to generate fan-favorite franchises and remakes that work theatrically and drive streaming subscription revenues."

Terrifier 2 arrived in 2022 having been made on just a $250,000 budget, slicing open the box office and bringing in over $11 million thanks to its release strategy. This major success was a shock to non-genre fans since the film had no known stars in the cast, a limited marketing budget, and its content lacked mainstream appeal due to the very graphic nature of the film's gore. That success paved the way for the third movie though, and potentially a fourth one too.

In a previous interview with Variety, Leone teased that he'd been considering the plot for Terrifier 3 while working on the second film. "There are so many questions brought up in 'Part 2' that are not answered, and that was part of the design because I know I'm going into a 'Part 3,'" Leone said. "I pretty much have the entire treatment ready for ' Part 3,' but it's getting so big that it could potentially split into a ' Part 4' because I wouldn't want to make another 2 hour 20 minute movie. So we'll see."

For better or worse, all three seasons of HBO's True Detective have featured standalone storylines that don't directly connect to one another, but according to showrunner of True Detective: Night Country Issa L?pez, the upcoming fourth entry into the series could be changing that, as she teased some direct nods to the show's past. While it is assumed that all three previous seasons took place in same world, there weren't any elements that confirmed that fact, though there also weren't any details that contradicted one another. In Night Country, L?pez hinted that there were connections to the more supernatural glimmers from Season 1 of the series. True Detective: Night Country premieres on HBO in January 2024.

"There are Easter eggs throughout that you will find and there's a big, big thing in Episode 6 that you will discover in time," L?pez shared at an HBO press event, per Entertainment Weekly. "It is its own story, but it's still connected. The spiral is there, the way that there are those dark and ancient gods (perhaps yes, perhaps not) working behind the scenes. It is the same universe."

The first season focused on two detectives trying to uncover the origins of cult-like murders, while Season 2 focused more on corruption and coverups in local government. Season 3 echoed the events of Season 1, in that the storyline spanned decades and focused on the bizarre disappearance of two children in the Ozarks. While the new season will feature connections to other seasons, L?pez confirmed we shouldn't expect the new storyline to feature a time-spanning story seen in previous stories.

"HBO, you guys are incredible in the way that you trust a crazy Mexican," L?pez joked. "They were like, 'You can do it. Whatever you want.' Which is terrifying, it's the worst thing."

She added, "I'm not going to follow the format and I'm not going to follow the way it's shot. I do follow the idea and the aesthetic of this world behind them, and I constantly go back to show you the universe, the world where it's set, which is so unique. This corner of the north, forgotten by the world, Alaska. That I kept. And then the other thing that I thought was brilliant was two characters in a car trying to decipher the workings of the universe and their souls."

The new season is described, "When the long winter night falls in Ennis, Alaska, the eight men who operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace. To solve the case, detectives Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) must confront their pasts and the dark truths lying underneath the Arctic ice."

True Detective: Night Country premieres on HBO in January 2024.

Are you looking forward to the new season? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

One of the more effective and minimal horror movie releases of 2022 was Fall, an experience that saw two climbers stranded at the top of a decommissioned radio tower with no access to safety. The thrilling experience proved promising enough that a sequel was announced earlier this year, with The Hollywood Reporter confirming this week that the movie is about to become a trilogy, as a third film has been announced. The outlet also confirmed that, rather than replicating the premise with an entirely new set of characters, the upcoming films could see figures from the debut movie making returns, while also leaving the door open for the debut of new characters. Fall 2 is set to begin shooting in June 2024.

"I am thrilled to be continuing the Fall journey and taking it to the next level," co-writer/director Scott Mann said of the upcoming movies. "We've got a really special cinematic experience planned and I'm immensely grateful to my fellow producers for backing the vision. I'm also excited to be working with new collaborators as well as reuniting with the original gang, and obviously can't wait to be back filming thousands of feet up."

Producer Christian Mercuri added, "These two new sequels are wonderful opportunities to expand on the original. We want to now take the franchise even further as we assemble the very best team and ideas to ensure the next hair-raising, death-defying, and pulse-pounding film to global audiences."

The original Fall is described, "For best friends Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) and Hunter (Virginia Gardner), life is all about conquering fears and pushing limits. But after they climb 2,000 feet to the top of a remote, abandoned radio tower, they find themselves stranded with no way down. Now Becky and Hunter's expert climbing skills will be put to the ultimate test as they desperately fight to survive the elements, a lack of supplies, and vertigo-inducing heights in this adrenaline-fueled thriller from the producers of 47 Meters Down. Costarring Jeffrey Dean Morgan."

Following the reveal of a sequel being developed, star Currey weighed in on possibly returning to the series.

"I am definitely excited about the idea of [returning for a sequel]," Currey shared with The Hollywood Reporter. "It's been a surprise to see how much people love that movie and how it's had a little bit of a wildfire on streaming platforms. And for the first time, people are coming up to me in public and going, 'You look like that girl who was stranded on the tower.' So it's wild, and I don't think we expected it to get such a loving response. It definitely makes us happy just because we didn't think we were gonna have a movie when we were shooting it. It was such a nightmare just trying to get the movie shot."

She continued, "Fall was the most challenging project I've ever worked on in my life, and I've never grown so much from a project. So the idea of getting to return would definitely be really cool, and I'm sure it would try to one-up the first one, which is a little scary to think about."

Stay tuned for updates on the Fall trilogy.

Are you excited that the film will become a trilogy? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

Disney+ and Hulu's new Goosebumps TV series just made a huge left turn heading into the first season's final two episodes. For the entirety of the season to this point, Goosebumps has been building toward a confrontation between its five teenaged protagonists and Harold Bittle, the vengeful ghost of a 16-year-old that was killed by the parents of the teens and is currently possessing their English teacher. On Friday morning, the eighth episode of the series was released and surprisingly brings an end to a major part of that saga, revealing that a whole new antagonist might be taking over as the season comes to a close.

WARNING: This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the latest episode of Goosebumps! Continue reading at your own risk...

The end of Goosebumps' eighth episode, "You Can't Scare Me," actually feels like a season finale in a lot of ways. The conflict with Harold Bittle is completely resolved. The parents apologize to him, he throws Slappy off the side of a mountain, leaves the body of Mr. Bratt and goes to join the ghosts of his parents in the afterlife. It's an all around happy ending -- until you remember that there are two more episodes in the season.

There's a final scene in the new Goosebumps episode that confirms Slappy has been the show's true antagonist all along, and that he will be the focal point of the story in the season's last two episodes. The camera shows Slappy's face on the ground at the bottom of a mountain, suddenly lit up by a flashlight. He's been discovered, but it's not revealed who is at the other end of the light, only that Slappy knows them because he says, "Took you long enough."

Suddenly, with only two episodes remaining in the season, Goosebumps is heading into uncharted territory. Harold is gone, Mr. Bratt is back to normal, and Slappy is now taking on a prominent role. It's going to make for a very eventful couple of weeks.

Goosebumps Season 2

Goosebumps hasn't received an official order for a second season just yet, but the producers of the series are hopeful that there will be a future for the series.

"We lucked out so significantly with the cast that we were able to assemble for this show. These five relatively unknown young adult actors just immediately found a chemistry and were able to play into their very natural and organic dynamics they had within the group," producer Conor Welch recently told ComicBook.com. "Our hope is to follow this group of kids and adults for many, many more seasons and many, many more episodes to come. Because we do have every one of the books of the canon at our disposal, and there's just a lot more to dig into."

What have you thought about Goosebumps so far? Let us know in the comments!

The Sanderson Sisters are returning for another adventure at some point in the not-too-distant future, and a new movie could be just what they need to get revenge on the town of Salem. Hocus Pocus 2 arrived on Disney+ last fall and became the streamer's biggest ever original film, so it should come as no surprise that the beloved property has a third movie in the works. The ending of Hocus Pocus 2 left Winifred Sanderson and her two sisters in a place that doesn't feel like it warrants another story, but the film's writer thinks the nature of the characters allows for them to be swayed by things as simple as revenge.

Speaking to Collider about the Hocus Pocus films, screenwriter Jen D'Angelo said that getting back at Salem is what Winifred has always wanted, and that could get all of the Sanderson Sisters back on their brooms for a third story.

"With the Sanderson sisters, the thing that makes them so fun is that they really are like herding cats," D'Angelo explained. "So I'm like, 'Yes, Winifred learned a very valuable lesson, she loves her sisters more than anything in the world,' but she will also just immediately get distracted by whatever's put in front of her. So if you dangle the carrot of a potential revenge against Salem, which she has always wanted, she might have a backslide where she gets singularly focused on the wrong goal again."

D'Angelo also opened up about the challenges of making a sequel to a movie as beloved as Hocus Pocus, and how rewarding it was to have found success.

"With Hocus Pocus 2, you had the challenge of revisiting these beloved characters and wanting to really make it worthwhile, this sequel," said the writer. "And I feel like we had so much fun making it, it turned out so well, I'm so thrilled and honored and humbled by all the response that it got."

The Witch Mother in Hocus Pocus 3

The second installment of the Hocus Pocus series not only saw the Sanderson Sisters return to Salem, but it also introduced the witch that gave them their powers. Hannah Waddingham's character was only a small part of the story in Hocus Pocus 2, but her presence set the stage for a lot of new story and lore.

While speaking to Entertainment Weekly, D'Angelo shared that there's a lot more to learn about the Witch Mother, something that could potentially happen in Hocus Pocus 3.

"We're still in the story phase, we're still working on it," D'Angelo said of the Hocus Pocus 3 script. "We've been working on some ideas, and it's been fun to dive back into that world and we have so many directions in which to go and so many new characters to explore. We've only scratched the surface of Hannah Waddingham's mother witch."

What do you hope to see from Hocus Pocus 3? Let us know in the comments!

Blumhouse has had a recent string of surprises, with films like M3GAN and Five Nights at Freddy's continuing to evolve the horror movie space. As it turns out, that catelogue of films could soon involve an original entry from True Detective creator Nico Pizzolatto. During a panel at the Austin Film Festival (via /Film), Pizzolatto mentioned that he has begun work on a horror movie for Blumhouse. The film doesn't have a title or any official details, outside of Pizzolatto describing it as "an occult detective story."

"Blumhouse contracted me to write and direct a horror movie, which I gave them the script for last week. It's kind of an occult detective story. But I just took a meeting with them once and we just kind of shot the s*** and we had some common friends and we were wrapping up and Couper [Samuelson], the VP of Blumhouse, said, 'Look, if you ever have an idea for a horror movie ...' And I go, 'Actually, I have one idea for a horror movie and I've had it for 10 years,' and I told it to him and he's like, 'Let's go make this.' I've got to see what they think of the script, but hopefully we'll be doing that."

What Are Nico Pizzolatto's Upcoming Projects?

This is the latest project Pizzolatto has in the works, as it was confirmed earlier this year that he will be writing and directing the indie drama Easy's Waltz. The cast of the film will include Vince Vaughn, Michelle Monaghan, Al Pacino and Simon Rex. The project is being described as "Swingers meets A Star Is Born" and follows a down-on-his-luck comedian-crooner navigating modern Las Vegas with old-school Vegas personalities. He is also developing a new Western drama series which already has a series commitment from Amazon Studios, and reportedly revolves around a former outlaw who must reckon with a threat from his past in order to keep the life and family he has worked so hard to build.

Pizzolatto also was previously reported to be writing Marvel's Blade reboot, although it is unclear if he is still involved with the latest iteration of the script, which is being written by Logan and Blade Runner 2049's Michael Green.

Will There Be a New Season of True Detective?

To the surprise of some of the franchise's fans, True Detective is set to return in the near future under a new title, True Detective: Night Country. In the series, when the long winter night falls in Ennis, Alaska, the six men that operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace. To solve the case, Detectives Liz Danvers and Evangeline Navarro will have to confront the darkness they carry in themselves, and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice. The series stars Jodie Foster as Liz Danvers and Kali Reis as Evangeline Navarro. A fourth season of True Detective has been in the works for quite some time, with Pizzolatto originally planning an idea for Season 4, before HBO shifted gears on the project in 2021.

"I had this idea, and to me, I think it's a really strong idea, and it would be something I've never seen on television before," Pizzolatto previously shared with IndieWire. "But since then, I've had another idea that I've talked about with an actor, and that, to me, would be the most exciting thing we could do with True Detective."

What do you think of the first details surrounding Nico Pizzolatto's Blumhouse movie? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

A number of horror franchises began with humble origins, delivering audiences a compelling premise and earning multiple sequels, though the follow-up films rarely match the successes of the debut entry. It's exactly because of this dropoff in quality with most horror movies that filmmaker Michael Dougherty isn't rushing to make a sequel to his Trick r' Treat, despite a sequel seemingly being confirmed back in 2013. Understandably, given how passionate fans have become about the film, if there's any dip in overall quality, it could be considered a disappointing experience, but he confirmed that we might not be far off from meeting his expectations.

"I love all of our favorite horror franchise characters as much as any of us, but not all of them are great," Dougherty explained at an in-person screening of the original movie, per Collider. "And I know we've grown to love even the lesser chapters of our favorite horror series. There's always a cheese value to them, but if I'm gonna do a sequel, I want it to be as good if not better than the original, and good things take time. The last thing I would want is to see 'Trick 'r Treat Part 9: Sam Goes to Space,' you know? Although that does have potential, I will say."

The movie initially screened at festivals starting in 2007, but it wasn't until 2009 that Trick r' Treat earned a wider release, as it ultimately went straight to video. It wasn't until streaming became more popular and more audiences had access to the film that its following grew, with its support growing so strong that it has become a staple with Spirit Halloween's decor selection and was honored with a haunted house at Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights.

While Dougherty is surely glad to see the film find a passionate following, the more time that passes, the more pressure there is on a sequel, and the higher the standards might be to get a sequel. The original film was an anthology that delivered multiple sequences that all took place on Halloween night and delivered tales of terror highlighting lore connected to the holiday, so, luckily, Dougherty doesn't have an expiration date on delivering a sequel, since the follow-up will have an all-new cast.

Stay tuned for updates on the Trick r' Treat sequel.

Are you disappointed it has taken so long to make a second movie? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

One of the more unexpected and exciting elements of Halloween Kills was that the opening scenes took audiences back to 1978, authentically immersing viewers in the sights and sounds of the original Halloween and the immediate aftermath of that movie's conclusion. In the new book Halloween: The Official Making of Halloween, Halloween Kills, and Halloween Ends, author Abbie Bernstein chronicles how early versions of that 2021 sequel included more flashbacks, which would have included more time with a teen-aged Laurie Strode, though these elements were abandoned not only because of the special effects for such scenes to be costly, but also that they would distract viewers from the immediacy of Kills' storyline.

Per /Film, it was co-writer Scott Teems who had developed those flashbacks but they were abandoned under the leadership of director David Gordon Green. For the flashbacks in the released film, Michael Myers was the only character featured prominently, with his mask making it easy to replicate him from 40 years ago. The flashbacks also included shots of Dr. Samuel Loomis, originally portrayed by the late Donald Pleasence, with these shots being a combination of facial prosthetics on a performer and a vocal double that resembled Pleasence's voice.

For a younger Laurie, the book confirms that the filmmakers either would have had to hire a new performer entirely to take the place of a teen-aged Jamie Lee Curtis, understandably putting undue pressure on them to match Curtis' performance, or they would have had a younger actor's face replaced with special effects to make her look like a young Curtis.

The book explains that Green "liked a lot" of those flashbacks, but they were too distracting from the present-day story. Co-writer Danny McBride also "liked [the extended flashbacks], but people should be more concerned with what's happening in the storyline we set up."

It's currently unclear if these Laurie flashbacks would have merely offered new looks and perspectives of the fallout of Halloween night in 1978 or if we would have gotten more insight into how the babysitter coped with the terror caused by Michael Myers. Given that the TV rights to the Halloween franchise were secured last month by Miramax, which are said to help revive the cinematic franchise as a whole, we could still spend time with a young Laurie in whatever future projects are being planned.

Stay tuned for updates on the Halloween franchise.

Would you have liked to have gotten these Laurie flashbacks? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

A writer on Marvel Studios' Blade reboot is taking a wooden stake to rumors that the vampire hunter was to be "the fourth lead" in his first solo film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Variety reported that the twice-delayed reboot -- which Marvel producer Kevin Feige announced at San Diego Comic-Con back in 2019 -- "at one point morphed into a narrative led by women and filled with life lessons" and relegated Mahershala Ali's Blade to the background. And Ali, the two-time Oscar winner who called the studio and told Feige he wanted to be Blade, was reportedly "ready to exit" the turbulent production that has gone through two directors and at least five writers.

One of those writers, Michael Starrbury, has offered a comment amid speculation that Blade was to focus on Brielle Brooks, the half-human, half-vampire daughter of Blade.

"I worked on a draft of this before the strike. Never saw a version where Blade was 4th lead or it was a 'narrative led by women and filled with life lessons' but I suppose a lot could have happened since I had anything to do with it. He was in 99% of the scripts I was a part of," Starrbury wrote on X (formerly Twitter). In a subsequent post, the Emmy-nominated When They See Us writer added: "Whatever is going on with Blade I'm hoping for the best. Some good folks are involved in that joint."

Starrbury then added that Ali's Blade "was in almost every scene" while he was on board the project. "I don't know what happened but I'll just say I seriously doubt he was ever the 4th lead in any draft."

Starrbury boarded Blade last November when Yann Demange (Lovecraft Country, White Boy Rick) replaced director Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli). Deadline reported at the time that Marvel Studios was eyeing a "darker tone" on Blade "than other MCU projects have been in the past," though it was unclear if it would be as dark as the R-rated trilogy that starred Wesley Snipes.

Stacy Osei-Kuffour (HBO's Watchmen) was the first scribe hired on Blade. Tariq took another stab at the script, and Beau DeMayo (Marvel's Moon Knight, X-Men '97) turned in a draft before Starrbury was hired with Demange. In April, Marvel tapped Ali's True Detective writer Nic Pizzolato around the time that Blade cast X and Pearl star Mia Goth in an undisclosed role. According to Variety, Feige hired Emmy and Oscar-nominated writer Michael Green -- whose credits include Fox's gritty, R-rated Logan and Blade Runner 2049 -- to overhaul Blade and start from scratch.

Blade is currently set to release on February 14, 2025.

The writers' and actors' strikes have seen a number of highly anticipated projects have to pause development, including the HBO series Welcome to Derry, which is a prequel story set in the world of Stephen King's IT. Development on the series was moving relatively slowly, but before the writers' strike officially started earlier this year, the project had found its main cast. Despite the writers's strike being resolved, the actors' strike is still completely halting production on countless movies and TV series and there is currently no end in sight for when that strike could be resolved. Stay tuned for updates on Welcome to Derry.

"We had had [Welcome to Derry] scheduled for Halloween '24 but it will likely pushing into '25," Chairman and CEO, HBO and Max Content Casey Bloys, recently shared, per Deadline. "White Lotus Season 3, that was going to be '24 and that's likely moving into 2025."

The new series is set in the town of Derry, Maine, as made famous in King's 1986 IT. The killer clown Pennywise is undeniably the most recognizable component of that story, though it would seem that Welcome to Derry would focus on other bizarre events that unfold in the town as opposed to putting emphasis on Pennywise.

Welcome to Derry is set to star Madeleine Stowe, Stephen Rider Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, and James Remar. The series was developed by Andy and Barbara Muschietti, the minds behind 2017's IT and 2019's IT CHAPTER TWO, with Andy also set to direct episodes of the series. Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane serve as co-showrunners of Welcome to Derry.

"As teenagers, we took turns reading chapters of Stephen King's IT until the thick paperback fell to pieces," the Muschiettis revealed in a statement when the series was officially ordered. "IT is an epic story that contains multitudes, far beyond what we could explore in our IT movies. We can't wait to share the depths of Steve's novel, in all its heart, humor, humanity, and horror."

"I'm excited that the story of Derry, Maine's most haunted city, is continuing, and I'm glad Andy Muschietti is going to be overseeing the frightening festivities, along with a brain trust including his talented sister, Barbara," King shared. "Red balloons all around!"

Stay tuned for updates on Welcome to Derry.

Are you disappointed that the series was delayed? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

Stranger Things won't return for its final season on Netflix until 2024, but Stranger Things Day 2023 will help to fill the void on November 6th with new merch, promos, and more. On the merch side, Fisher-Price is celebrating with three new Stranger Things-themed sets in their Little People Collector lineup.

If you're unfamiliar, Fisher-Price put an pop culture spin on their iconic Little People toys with Collector lineup of special edition figures that are targeted for adults. The 2.5-inch figures in the sets are based on characters from classic shows and movies that come in elaborate packaging that's loaded with Easter eggs for fans. The Stranger Things collection is no different. In fact, they went above and beyond with this collection, offering three different, retailer exclusive options for fans of the series. These options are as follows:

Little People Collector Stranger Things Castle Byers Special Edition Set ($29.99) - Amazon Exclusive: Features Upside Down-inspired packaging with figures of Eleven, Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson, Lucas Sinclair, Will Byers and the Demogorgon.

Fisher-Price Little People Collector: Stranger Things Max's Song Collector Set ($29.99) - Target Exclusive: This set highlights Max's escape from Vecna with figures of Max Mayfield, Lucas Sinclair, Steve Harrington, Dustin Henderson, and Vecna.

Fisher-Price - Little People Collector Stranger Things Hellfire Club Figures ($24.99) - Best Buy Exclusive: This set includes Hellfire Club members Eddie Munson, Dustin Henderson, Mike Wheeler, and Erica Sinclair.

How Will Stranger Things End?

Stranger Things creators, Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, recently revealed that their pitch for the fifth season was a tear-jerker.

"Listen. It's our process but it's just like, we really just try to focus on one season at a time," Ross Duffer previously told The Wrap. "We do have an outline for season 5 and we pitched it to Netflix and they really responded well to it. I mean, it was hard. It's the end of the story. I saw executives crying who I've never seen cry before and it was wild. And it's not just to do with the story, just the fact that it's like, Oh my God, this thing that has defined so many of our lives, these Netflix people who has been with us from the beginning, seven years now, and it's hard to imagine the journey coming to an end."

Stranger Things is expected to return for its final season in 2024.

Yesterday came word that horror fans didn't want to hear on Halloween, the Warner Bros. Pictures remake of Salem's Lot will reportedly skip theaters and go straight to the Max streaming service. The latest adaptation of Stephen King's Salem's Lot had previously been undated after being removed from Warner Bros. schedule, leaving many horror fans to wonder the fate of the film. After Warner Bros. had previously cancelled fully completed movies, Stephen King fans worried that Salem's Lot might go unseen forever. Though Warner Bros. hasn't confirmed the news that Salem's Lot will be skipping movie theaters for a streaming premiere, the movie just got an even more exciting update, an official endorsement from Stephen King himself.

In a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, Stephen King offered an update on the tone of the Salem's Lot reboot and what makes it work, while also revealing it makes changes from his book that he "doesn't agree with." King wrote, "The Warner Bros remake of SALEM'S LOT, currently shelved, is muscular and involving. It has the feel of 'Old Hollywood,' when a film was given a chance to draw a breath before getting to business. When attention spans were longer, in other words."

He continues, "It feels like a horror movie version of slow-burn movies like THE GREAT ESCAPE. It builds very well. There are diversions from the book I don't agree with, but on the whole, faithful. Best scene: Danny Glick in the hospital, trying to claw down a blood bag. The Glick scene could have been directed by John Carpenter in his prime."

The Warner Bros remake of SALEM'S LOT, currently shelved, is muscular and involving. It has the feel of "Old Hollywood," when a film was given a chance to draw a breath before getting to business. When attention spans were longer, in other words.

-- Stephen King (@StephenKing) November 1, 2023

Salem's Lot remake cast

The Salem's Lot remake cast includes a stacked roster of names that fans will recognize, with Lewis Pullman (Top Gun: Maverick, Bad Times at the El Royale) starring in the lead role of Ben Mears, a man who returns to his childhood home Jerusalem's Lot while attempting to work on his next novel only to realize that a vampire has taken hold of the town. Other Salem's Lot cast members that have been confirmed include Makenzie Leigh (Gotham, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk) as Susan Norton, Alfre Woodard (Marvel's Luke Cage) as Dr. Cody, Bill Camp (Joker) as Matthew Burke, Pilou Asbaek (Game of Thrones) as Richard Straker, Jordan Preston Carter (DMZ) as Mark Petrie, Spencer Treat Clark (Unbreakable) as Mike Ryerson, plus John Benjamin Hickey (Gossip Girl) as Father Callahan, with Nicholas Crovetti (Big Little Lies) as Danny Glick, and Cade Woodward as Ralph Glick.

Filmmaker Gary Dauberman, who previously cut his Stephen King teeth by adapting IT into the two feature films, wrote and directed the adaptation. Dauberman previously wrote several films in The Conjuring franchise, including directing Annabelle Comes Home.

"It's a scary thing doing these remakes, man. It's like, this and [Top Gun: Maverick], there's such pressure, it's a hard concoction to conjure up to make it successful," Pullman previously told ComicBook.com about the film. "But Gary Dauberman, the director, is really keen on doing justice to the book. But also, the previous adaptation was a two-parter, because it's such a hefty book and there are so many different moving parts and so many characters. So there are some parts where Gary had to press and find what was really at the heart of the movie to keep in, but for the most part, he's really true to the book and keeping a lot of the original dialogue in there. He's a Stephen King hound dog so he doesn't wanna do Stephen dirty."

Blade's having a rough go at it. Marvel Studios' attempt at rebooting the Daywalker has been one of the studio's most troubled productions to date, going through several script iterations and a few different directions on top of pre-production shutdowns and release date delays. At one point, according to a new report from Variety, the film was even about to lose Mahershala Ali, the Oscar-winning actor currently set to be the new version of the vampire-hunting favorite.

Then there's the idea Marvel is hoping to make its Blade reboot for less than anything it's done before, giving it a budget smaller than virtually any show it's released on Disney+. Should that be the case, there's a pretty apparent path forward, one that reunites Wesley Snipes with the role he originated in live-action 25 years ago.

Snipes' workload is as light as it has ever been, and the actor is one many attribute with kickstarting the wave of modern superhero cinema. There's a significant nostalgia hit when it comes to a potential Snipes reprisal, and it's one that could do wonders for Marvel Studios at the box office.

Would Wesley Snipes ever return as Blade?

When we spoke with Snipes last summer, he said he would never close the door on a Blade return.

"Never say never. Long as I'm healthy and in shape, I can rock with them," the Blade star told us at the time. "Yeah, as far as my predictions on if something like that happened in future, I don't know. I don't know. It seems to me if it would've happened, it would've happened already. But hey, never say never."

Furthermore, Snipe added that Marvel had yet to approach him about appearing in its Blade reboot in any capacity, even for a cameo role.

"No, not as of yet," the actor added before going on to joke, "I'm still working on my acting skills. So when I come up as an actor, maybe they'll reach out and say, 'Let's have a conversation,' or maybe they don't feel I'm an ensemble player."

Blade is currently set for release on February 14, 2025. Snipes' Blade trilogy is now streaming on Hulu.

What other characters would you like to see make up the MCU's new Midnight Suns team? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!

It's officially November, and while Halloween may be over, that doesn't mean there won't be some upcoming chances to celebrate horror. November 6th marks Stranger Things Day, the annual celebration of the beloved series that usually comes with some new promotional materials or teasers. The fifth season of Stranger Things is set to be its last, and it's expected to be released next year, which means this could be the last Stranger Things Day before the series ends. Today, the official account for Stranger Things shared a little countdown teaser showing a VCR that reads 11:06, which means fans can expect more content coming within then next five days.

"time to hit rewind. we're taking a look back on our time in Hawkins #strangerthingsday," Stranger Things shared. You can check out the post below:

time to hit rewind. we're taking a look back on our time in Hawkins #strangerthingsday pic.twitter.com/6AlTBiZ89T

-- Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) November 1, 2023

Will Stranger Things Get a Spin-Off?

Stranger Things creators Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer previously confirmed they plan to start developing a spin-off of the series sooner rather than later. In a funny turn of events, Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler) is the only actor from the beloved series who knows what the spinoff is about. Apparently, the young star guessed the premise and he previously shared with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show that he's been sworn to secrecy.

"We were on set filming Stranger Things 4 and we were all talking about if there's going to be, like joking, 'Oh they're all going to have us back in 20 years and we're all going to fat and old,' that kind of thing," Wolfhard shared. "And then I was like, 'But if you guys are actually going to do a spin-off, it should be this...' And then I said it, and the Duffers looked at each other and looked at me and they were like, 'Could we talk to you for a second?' And then they pulled me off and they were like, 'That is the idea. Who told you?' and I was like, 'No one,' and they were like 'What do you mean? You just came up with it?' and I was like, 'Well, no, I just thought that that would be a cool way to expand.' It was really funny and they were like 'Okay, well... don't tell anyone.'"

Stranger Things is expected to return for its final season in 2024. Stay tuned for more updates about the series.

Surprising few, Eli Roth's latest project has landed an R rating. In a new filing courtesy of the Motion Picture Association's Film Ratings bureau, Thanksgiving is being rated R because of "strong bloody horror violence and gore, pervasive language and some sexual material."

The film is based on the faux Thanksgiving movie trailer included in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's Grindhouse, featuring a slasher named John Carver that aims to murder whatever residents of a sleepy Massachusetts town they can. Though the movie is inspired by the faux trailer, it won't include John Harrison's exact score that accompanied the original piece.

"I'm not involved with it at all. I've been aware of it," Harrison confirmed with ComicBook.com earlier this year. "Now, back in the day when Quentin [Tarantino] and Robert [Rodriguez] were doing the Grindhouse movies and Roth ... They called me and said, 'Listen, we love this piece and we want to put it in there and would you give us permission?' And, of course, I said, 'Yes.' But he's finally getting a chance to do it, so he's going to put his own imprimatur on it, and I'm sure the music that he'll choose will be pretty creepy."

Thanksgiving is described, "After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts -- the birthplace of the holiday. Picking off residents one by one, what begins as random revenge killings are soon revealed to be part of a larger, sinister holiday plan. Will the town uncover the killer and survive the holidays...or become guests at his twisted holiday dinner table?"

Thanksgiving stars Patrick Dempsey, Nell Verlaque, Addison Rae, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Milo Manheim, Gabriel Davenport, Tomaso Sanelli, and Jenna Warren. The project recently added Gina Gershon, Tim Dillon, and Rick Hoffman. Roth is helming the film from a screenplay by Jeff Rendell, who also wrote the original trailer.

Thanksgiving lands in theaters on November 17th.

Some celebrities just have a knack for taking Halloween very seriously, and musician/actress Janelle Mon?e is one of the queens of the holiday. Last year the Glass Onion star made waves with her wild Fifth Element alien costume, and this year she seems to have upped her game. Janelle Mon?e's 2023 Halloween costume might be her best yet, with the Antebellum star revealing herself to have fully become a chameleon....literally that is, her costume is a pretty photorealistic version of the color-changing reptile.

While many celebrities are suiting up as their own characters, or going as other notable pop culture creations, Mon?e opted to just outdo everyone by fully transforming. You can find a series of photos of Janelle Mon?e's 2023 Halloween costume below. Mon?e thanked a slew of make-up artists and csotumes that helped bring it to life including Cat Paschen of SYFY's Face Off, Niko Gonzalez (Blue Beetle), Miranda Jory, Meg Wilbur, Lisette Santana (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Mandalorian), and Alexandra Mandelkorn (Janelle Mon?e's "Dirty Computer"). The actress also noted that the custom prosthetics for the costume were created by DYAD Make-up & FX Studio with additional prosthetics by RBFX Studio and Patrick Magee.

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A post shared by Janelle Mon?e (@janellemonae)

Janelle Mon?e Halloween Costumes

Janelle Mon?e's Halloween costumes have long been a fan-favorite, with people looking forward to what she'll put together year after year much like Heidi Klum. In 2022, Janelle Mon?e's Halloween costume was the previosuly mentioned Fifth Element alien, but in 2021 Janelle Mon?e celebrated Halloween and Christmas at the same time with a Grinch costume.

Just fired everyone and listened to them cry. Heaven. ?
-Grinch pic.twitter.com/xoxa14ONHZ

-- Janelle Mon?e????? (@JanelleMonae) October 31, 2021

Janelle Mon?e's Halloween costume in 2020 was another animal transformation, fully becoming a human fly (inspired by Mike Pence's encounter with a fly during a Vice Presidential debate). Janelle Mon?e's 2019 Halloween costume was another unique one, appearing as a decapitated bride holding her own head.

I may look fly but I'm honestly just winging it.

Costume design: Alex Navarro, @amandelkorn, @FaeryAngela, Me
SFX Makeup: @MissLaneyC, @sashaglasser pic.twitter.com/R6HK70NAk8

-- Janelle Mon?e????? (@JanelleMonae) November 2, 2020

Janelle Mon?e's fourth studio album The Age of Pleasure was release this summer and the actress' next acting gig will likely be the A24 TV series De La Resistance. The series will see Mon?e take on the role of Josephine Baker, a spy for the Allied forces that helped France fight the Nazis. It was previously reported that many streamers were interested in the property but it's unclear where it ended up landing.

(Cover photo by Mason Rose/Janelle Mon?e & Netflix)

What if a witch hunt involved real witches? On Halloween, Sundance Now and AMC+ released the first look at Sanctuary: A Witch's Tale, the new Sundance Now original series set in a contemporary world where witchcraft is real. Based on author V.V. James' novel Sanctuary -- described as twisting "Big Little Lies with Practical Magic in a dark mystery of four women, a wicked secret, and an investigation that shakes their Connecticut town to the core" -- the seven-part drama series will premiere with the first two episodes Thursday, January 4th, on Sundance Now and AMC+.

Sanctuary: A Witch's Tale "takes place in the idyllic English town of Sanctuary, where for hundreds of years witches have lived peacefully, as valued members of society. Until now," the official synopsis reads. "At the heart of the story is Sarah Fenn (Elaine Cassidy), Sanctuary's resident witch, on whom the town relies to solve their problems when conventional remedies have failed. When local teen rugby star, Dan Whithall, dies tragically in an apparent accident, his death exposes a terrifying undercurrent of suspicion and fear towards Sarah and her teenage daughter, Harper (Hazel Doupe). Mother of the dead boy, Abigail (Amy de Bhrun), once Sarah's closest friend, is wracked with grief, and to avenge her son's death, launches a modern-day witch-hunt to get 'justice,' no matter what the cost."

Debbie Horsfield (BBC's Poldark, Age Before Beauty) wrote and created the series adapted from James' novel. The series stars stars Cassidy (A Discovery of Witches), Doupe (Smother), and de Bhrun (Vikings) alongside Stephanie Levi-John (The Spanish Princess), Valerie O'Connor (Red Rock), Kelly Campbell (The Other Lamb), and Stephen Lord (Penny Dreadful). Monumental Television (Mrs Sidhu Investigates, Harlots) executive produces the series directed by Lisa Mulcahy (The Tourist) and Justin Molotnikov (Outlander).

Sanctuary: A Witch's Tale joins AMC Networks' lineup of supernatural dramas that includes the Sky Studios series A Discovery of Witches, a three-season adaptation of Deborah Harkness' All Souls Trilogy; gothic horror Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, the network's adaptation of Rice's The Vampire Chronicles that returns with its second season in 2024; and Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches, inspired by Lives of the Mayfair Witches, the second series set in what AMC calls the Immortal Universe.

Sanctuary: A Witch's Tale premieres January 4th exclusively on Sundance Now and AMC+, and will be available on applicable platforms in the USA and Canada.

DreamWorks Animation's recent hit TV series, Fright Krewe, is coming back for seconds. Co-created by Eli Roth and James Frey, Fright Krewe debuted simultaneously on Hulu and Peacock on October 2nd, taking viewers on a supernatural adventure through New Orleans. The teen-centric animated series clearly resonated with subscribers and made some fans, as there is already another round of episodes on the way.

DreamWorks announced on Tuesday that Fright Krewe has been officially renewed for a second season. The next installment of the series is reportedly expected to debut in 2024, but no premiere date has been announced just yet. Season 2 will return to both Hulu and Peacock.

The announcement came in the form of an animated teaser on social media. "A special Halloween treat for all the members of the Krewe," reads the post from the DreamWorks Instagram account.

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A post shared by DreamWorksTV (@dreamworkstv)

Fright Krewe stars Sydney Mikayla, Tim Johnson Jr., Grace Lu, Chester Rushing, Terrence Little Gardenhigh, and Jacques Colimon. Recurring cast members in the first season include Vanessa Hudgens, Josh Richards, X Mayo, Rob Paulsen, JoNell Kennedy, Melanie Laurent, Chris Jai Alex, Reggie Watkins, Cherise Boothe, Keston John, Grey Delisle, and Krizia Bajos.

Making Fright Krewe a Horror Series for Younger Audiences

Fright Krewe showrunners Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco spoke to ComicBook.com earlier this month about making a horror series that could appeal to kids and teenagers.

"I think for us, the stakes always had to feel real," Songco explained. "The thing that, in the process, we kept saying a lot is 'not too cartoony,' which sounds weird when it's an animated show. But we wanted to make this feel like this could be a real story with real people. People's reactions are real, and the comedy comes from someone's very scared reaction to something. And the comedy will come in the moments before the scare kind of a thing. But yeah, I think we tried to make this a little more grounded in reality."

"And also, we wanted to make something that appealed to us," Lewis added. "So we wanted to be able to want to watch what we were working on."

In order to keep the story grounded, the writers of Fright Krewe had to be sure they were building enough tension to keep viewers on the edge of their seats, without always resorting to big scares.

"The thing about this show is that because it is the gateway horror kind of thing, you think of different ways to do the scares because there are jump scares, but it can't just be blood and guts the way traditional horror is," said Songco. "So there are a lot of zombie things, like All of Us Are Dead or Train to Busan that I watched for tension building reasons."

"And before we did this show, the Fear Street trilogy had come out, and I was like a herd studying with my notebook," Lewis said with a laugh. "Like, 'how many minutes between each scare? How are they treating the different things? Okay so there's that kind of thing but then there's the thing were people are just walking down a dark alley.' And that's terrifying. So we had to study. Kristine and I are both horror wimps, wo we spent a lot of sleepless nights watching these horror movies."

After having no updates for the better part of a year, the latest take on Salem's Lot may be gearing up for release. New reports suggest the Warners Bros. picture will be ditching its planned theatrical release for a debut on streaming instead. Though the studio has yet to confirm such a move, Variety says the Lewis Pullman vehicle is one of the few pictures the studio has in the can that will be able to make the jump to streaming. As the trade reports, the move isn't indicative of quality but rather, a necessity given Max doesn't have the film inventory available after this year's strikes.

Based on the Stephen King novel bearing the same name, Salem's Lot follows a writer named Ben Mears as he returns to his hometown, only to find it overrun by vampires.

"It's a scary thing doing these remakes, man. It's like, this and [Top Gun: Maverick], there's such pressure, it's a hard concoction to conjure up to make it successful," Pullman previously told ComicBook.com about the film. "But Gary Dauberman, the director, is really keen on doing justice to the book. But also, the previous adaptation was a two-parter, because it's such a hefty book and there are so many different moving parts and so many characters. So there are some parts where Gary had to press and find what was really at the heart of the movie to keep in, but for the most part, he's really true to the book and keeping a lot of the original dialogue in there. He's a Stephen King hound dog so he doesn't wanna do Stephen dirty."

Pullman stars in the movie as lead character Ben Mears, who returns to his childhood home Jerusalem's Lot while attempting to work on his next novel only to realize that a vampire has taken hold of the town. Makenzie Leigh (Gotham, The Assistant) as Susan Norton, Mears' love interest and a helpful hand in the fight against the vampire; Bill Camp (Joker) as Matthew Burke, a local high school English teacher that reveals to Mears the evils of the Marsten House; and Spencer Treat Clark (Unbreakable) as Mike Ryerson, the local gravedigger who becomes one of the town's vampires.

Salem's Lot has yet to set a release date. The original two-part series can be rented wherever movies are sold.

Have you heard the tale of the Halloween School Bus Massacre? Legend has it that on October 31st, 1977, parents paid a school bus driver to take their eight "troubled and disturbed" children to an abandoned rock quarry outside the town of Warren Valley, Ohio, to do the unthinkable: murder. The quarry became a grave for the eight would-be trick-or-treaters as the bus -- and the costumed children still on board -- went over a cliff and sank so deep that it was never seen again. According to legend, it's tradition to leave eight jack-o-lanterns by the side of the lake as an offering to the eight lost souls who died on All Hallows' Eve... or fall victim to the undead children haunting their watery grave.

Of course, it's set up for a scary trick that pranksters Macy (Britt McKillip), Schrader (Jean-Luc Bilodeau), Chip (Alberto Ghisi) and Sara (Isabelle Deluce) pull on Samhain faithful Rhonda (Samm Todd) in 2007's Trick 'r Treat, writer and director Michael Dougherty's cult classic Halloween anthology. But as it turns out, the urban legend is true: Rhonda, who abides by the rules of Halloween, is the only survivor when the victims of the School Bus Massacre rise again and prey on the bullies. But the story almost ended with a different twist.

"The one variation was that the rock quarry story initially just took place in a cemetery, and the kids were playing ghost in the graveyard or something like that. The original ending was that you found out that the group of kids lured the one girl to the cemetery to play ghost in the graveyard only to find out that they lured her there because she was actually dead, and she forgot that she was dead," Dougherty told Collider after a recent screening of Trick 'r Treat. "It's not a terrible twist, but this is coming on the heels of The Sixth Sense and The Others, and so I realized the twist of, 'Surprise! You're really dead,' was sort of a trope at that point."

More than 15 years after Trick 'r Treat unleashed Sam, the pumpkin-headed demon spirit of Halloween, a sequel is in "active development" at Legendary Pictures.

"I will say this, because we said it last year at the Beyond Fest screening, the sequel is in active development with Legendary," Dougherty told Collider of Trick 'r Treat Part 2. "I'll go so far as to say that we have several drafts of a script. I brought back the same storyboard artist I mentioned before, Simeon Wilkins, so we have a stack of storyboards and a good fat stack of concept art done by Breehn Burns as well. So it's inching along."

Trick 'r Treat is streaming on Max.

Years before Dead by Daylight, developer Behaviour Interactive put out Naughty Bear, a game where you play as a very ill-tempered teddy bear who lives up to the name of the game. Fast-forward to this week, and Behaviour has announced not only a new Dead by Daylight skin featuring the character from the developer's past but also a totally new kind of cosmetic. The skin in question turns The Trapper into the Naughty Bear himself, but more importantly than that, it sets a precedent for future Dead by Daylight skins to incorporate a unique feature where they have exclusive Mori kills.

The Naughty Bear skin was shown off this week by Behaviour in a trailer showing what it'd look like in-game alongside a look at its Mori kill playing out in full. This skin also marks the introduction of a new, higher rarity known as the "Visceral Legendary."

Dead by Daylight's Naughty Bear Skin

He's out of hibernation and ready to crash the party.

Play as Naughty Bear himself, thanks to this Visceral Legendary Outfit for The Trapper - complete with a brutal new Mori!
? https://t.co/btW6E1GgOu pic.twitter.com/JBhfyhK5u6

-- Dead by Daylight (@DeadbyDaylight) October 31, 2023

Aside from carrying a similar weapon and hauling some bear traps across the map, The Trapper is pretty much unrecognizable when wearing the full Naughty Bear outfit. The full set for the cosmetic puts The Trapper in head-to-toe teddy bear attire, though the Naughty Bear character is actually a stuffed bear and isn't actually a suit, so perhaps you're playing as Naughty Bear himself?

Regardless, you can check out the first look at the new skin in action via the trailer above, and you don't have to wait to play as him yourself since the Naughty Bear crossover is in the game now. Behaviour has done an in-house crossover like this in the past with a Naughty Bear charm added previously, so if you've got both, you're set to be a Naughty Bear superfan. The cosmetic itself costs 1,485 Auric Cells (just under $15), a sale that takes some of the cost off of what would normally be a price of 1,950 Auric Cells.

"This is a fun trip into Behaviour's history," said Kirby Taylor, the product manager on Dead by Daylight. "Back in 2010 we released a game called Naughty Bear, and we're happy to be bringing him back! The team has put a ton of work into this Outfit, from adjusting nearly all the animations to developing the systems allowing us to support special Outfit-specific Moris. We've also added the 'Visceral' rarity along with some visual indications in the UI to highlight Outfits with custom Moris!"

Again, what's most interesting about this cosmetic is the custom Mori kill it boasts. While that kill is creative itself as it adds insult to injury by ending with a quick toss onto a bear trap, the implication here is that we'll see more of these Visceral Legendary skins in the future all with their own unique kills. It's a system in line with other games that offer premium cosmetics of higher rarities than all the rest such as the Mythic skins in Apex Legends that have their own unique Finishers, too.

Dead by Daylight's new Naughty Bear skin for The Trapper is live in-game now.

Your Halloween candy won't be the only thing gone by the end of the night. Fear the Walking Dead and more AMC shows that have been available to stream on Max since September 1 are leaving the service formerly known as HBO Max tonight, October 31, which means you have until midnight to finish your Killing Eve or Fear the Walking Dead binges. In August, AMC Networks and Warner Bros. Discovery announced "AMC+ Picks on Max," a limited-time "programming pop-up" bringing seven AMC shows and more than 200 episodes to Max for 60 days. And time is almost up.

AMC content has been available to subscribers of Max's ad-supported and ad-free plans at no additional cost, but Max customers without an AMC+ subscription will have to pay for AMC's streaming service if they want to continue streaming shows like Fear the Walking Dead and Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire.

AMC on Max: What's Leaving Max on October 31

• A Discovery of Witches (Seasons 1--3)
  
• Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire (Season 1)
• Dark Winds (Season 1)
• Fear the Walking Dead (Seasons 1--7)
  
• Gangs of London (Seasons 1--2)
  
• Killing Eve (Seasons 1--4)
• Ride with Norman Reedus (Seasons 1--5)
  

The above shows can be accessed on AMC+, even after October 31. Prices start at $4.99/month for the new AMC+ with ads plan, while ad-free AMC+ is available for $6.99/month (when billed annually) or $8.99/month (when billed monthly). Plans for Max start at $9.99/month with ads, $15.99/month for Ad-Free, or $19.99/month for Ultimate Ad-Free.

"AMC Networks makes great shows, and our goal is to bring these shows to as many people as possible, in ways that best serve viewers," Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks, said when announcing AMC's collaboration with Max. "This promotional arrangement with Warner Bros. Discovery is a terrific opportunity to serve up some of our most popular and critically acclaimed programming to millions of Max subscribers in the U.S. for two full months."

"Subscribers turn to Max to find a deep and diverse selection of stories for the whole household," said Meredith Gertler, Warner Bros. Discovery's EVP of global content strategy, planning and analysis. "The AMC+ collection pop-up is an excellent example of how we can use innovative strategies to add value to our content offering."

The first seven seasons of Fear the Walking Dead left Hulu in June, and AMC announced in July that all eight seasons of the Walking Dead spinoff were available to stream on AMC+. AMC+ is currently the only platform to stream Fear the Walking Dead's eighth and final season, which will air its last six episodes through the two-episode series finale on November 19.

New episodes of Fear the Walking Dead season 8 premiere Sundays on AMC and AMC+.

Stay tuned to ComicBook/TWD (and find us on Facebook) and follow @CameronBonomolo on Twitter for more TWD Universe coverage.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure might now focus on Stand battles over various generations of Joestars, but that wasn't always the case. The anime franchise from creator Hirohiko Araki initially gave the likes of Jonathan and Joseph Joestar powers related to the "Ripple", an energy-based power that was perfect for fighting the undead. With the earliest Joestars fighting against the vampire Dio Brando and other creatures of the night, the series definitely had its roots in horror. Now, a new list has surfaced when it comes to the scary movie recommendations of Araki himself.

Dio Brando was originally able to become a vampire thanks to the legendary item known as the "Stone Mask". His introduction gave way to other vampires to threaten the world, specifically during the arc known as Battle Tendency, in which Joseph Joestar fought against the nefarious antagonists known as the Pillar Men. Led by the villainous Kars, the group of vampires might have given the original Dio Brando a run for his money in the power department. Dio would return in the third major storyline of the series, Stardust Crusaders, retaining his nocturnal abilities and a new Stand thanks to claiming Jonathan Joestar's body.

Hirohiko Araki's Halloween Favorites

In 1993, Hirohiko Araki shared his top ten favorite films that he "wished would stop but kept watching anyway". Many of these entries aren't necessarily "horror" movies, but they certainly are able to present some uncomfortable moments that will make viewers writhe in their seats. While this list is decades old, the films remain all-time favorites for cinema fans.

#1: Night of the Living Dead
#2: Jaws
#3: Johnny Got His Gun
#4: Mississippi Burning
#5: Platoon
#6: Papillon
#7: Halloween 4
#8: Lord of the Flies
#9: The Silence of the Lambs
#10: Alien

While JoJo's Bizarre Adventure might no longer have vampires threatening the Joestars, Araki is continuing to create plenty of bizarre obstacles for the Stand wielders to overcome. In the latest manga entry, The JOJOLands, two new Joestars have taken the reins in Jodio and Dragona. Dio Brando might still be in the grave, but we've seen characters from the Joestars' past make a comeback.

What do you think of Hirohiko Araki's favorite picks for the spooky season? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of the Joestars.

Via JOJO_Wiki

After years missing, Silent Hill fans will soon have a chance to experience a new take on the franchise in Silent Hill: Ascension. Not quite a streaming series, and not quite a video game, Silent Hill: Ascension seems to be landing somewhere in between. The series will consist of short nightly installments where viewers will have a chance to decide where the story goes. Those that can't watch live can catch-up the next day, or view bundled episodes each week. Ahead of Silent Hill: Ascension's debut, ComicBook.com was given the chance to attend a media preview that showcased how it will all work in practice.

At the start of the preview, a clip from the series was shown, in which an unholy ritual seems to be taking place. Rachel, one of the initial main characters of the series, is trying to get rid of a "blight" inside of her alongside a woman named Joy. However, Rachel starts to get nervous about completing the ritual, which results in a monster emerging in the room. While we did not get a chance to see what happened to Joy, later parts of the presentation implied that she was killed as a result, and the audience will have to decide how Rachel deals with this moving forward.

Audience Interaction

For Silent Hill: Ascension, the developers have crafted a number of different ways that the story can change based on the decisions made by the audience. Live episodes will air at 6 p.m. PT every day, with most episodes lasting 10-15 minutes (the premiere will be over 40). It won't be a voting type format, however; instead viewers will have "Influence Points" which will give them greater weight in the decision making process. Players can also try to sway those with more influence, and episodes will have a Twitch-inspired chat, which can be toggled off if players choose.

Each episode will end with an Endurance Scene, which can only be experienced live. These Endurance Scenes will involve a main character being chased by monsters, and play out like quick-time events. These are only "shared delusions," but they have an impact on the character's Hope. If a character succeeds, their odds of survival increase. However, if they lose enough times, their Hope might not be high enough for them to survive pivotal moments in the story. As the season goes on, these events will get progressively harder. While the game has five "initial" main characters, others might take their place if they die.

Keeping Characters Alive

Completing Endurance Scenes will result in a lot of Influence Points for the player. They can also be earned by completing different puzzles, which will be added to the app and desktop versions of Silent Hill: Ascension each day. The puzzles are being modeled after the kind that players would see in a survival horror game. Players can also unlock bonuses by completing them, including lore.

There are two types of puzzles: Arcane and Mindfulness. Mindfulness puzzles can help a main character regain some of their Hope. One example was a Guitar Hero-inspired rhythm puzzle. Since the character enjoys playing, it helps him regain Hope. These guitar puzzles also feature classic tracks from the Silent Hill franchise, which is something longtime fans should appreciate.

Character Creation and Monetization

In Silent Hill: Ascension, there is a character creator tool, with the result being the player's avatar. Players can unlock different customization options, allowing them to tweak their character's appearance. By gaining enough IP, the player will be able to register for cameo contests, where their avatar can actually appear in the story. If selected, this version of their avatar will be seen in the game's sequences, and might even be killed by the game's monsters. Their character will also be part of the "canon," and will show up in the bundled releases that appear on streaming services.

Silent Hill: Ascension will be totally free-to-play, but there is an optional Season Pass that will be offered for $19.99. The Season Pass will offer access to additional avatar items, access to additional puzzles, and more.

A New Take on Silent Hill

After getting a chance to learn more about Silent Hill: Ascension, I find myself intrigued by the concept. The developers have clearly put a lot of thought into building this world, and how players can truly influence the narrative. The experience was compared to social experiments like Twitch Plays Pokemon, and it's easy to see how the game could hold appeal for anyone that enjoyed that. It remains to be seen whether this will hold appeal to fans of Silent Hill, but with the series set to begin on October 31st, fans won't have to wait long to see for themselves!

Are you planning to check out Silent Hill: Ascension? How do you feel about the interactive element? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

[Spoiler alert for Sunday's "Iron Tiger" episode of Fear the Walking Dead.] Troy Otto had a bone to pick with Madison Clark when he handed over the skeletal remains of Alicia's arm and told Madison her daughter is dead. Troy claimed he killed Alicia, took her arm off her corpse, and left her to roam as a zombie as revenge for Madison bludgeoning him with a hammer and leaving him to die at a dam in Mexico back in season 3. "You took everything from me. I'm just doing the same for you," Troy told Madison in Sunday's "Iron Tiger" episode, where a captive Charlie took her own life rather than let Madison give up PADRE to save her.

That wasn't the only shocker. Troy blamed Madison for destroying his family's Broke Jaw Ranch and for the deaths of his brother Jake and his father Jeremiah, but it turned out that Troy wanted to take PADRE for another Otto: his young daughter, Tracy. But when Tracy went missing during Troy's standoff with Madison, a cryptic Troy told Madison the real reason for his revenge: "Her mother's dead because of you."

When Madison pressed Troy about why he killed Alicia and who he thinks she took from him, Troy revealed it was the woman who rescued him from the Gonzalez Dam. As Troy put it, "The woman who gave me a second chance."

The woman who saved Troy at the dam and Tracy's mother are one and the same. But could Alicia be Tracy's mother? Fans speculated as much after the final episodes trailer revealed a young girl who bears a resemblance to Alycia Debnam-Carey's Alicia Clark, and it's a theory that has been posted on social media following the revelation that Troy wants to take PADRE for his daughter.

I believe the child is his and Alicia's and he's lying about having killed her. Alicia may have learned Madison was alive and died while out looking for her and Troy blames Grandma.

-- Kim Downey (@Snerd2123) October 30, 2023

We asked showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg to weigh in on the Troy/Alicia theories, and the tight-lipped duo had this to say:

"Maybe, maybe not," Goldberg answered when asked if Tracy's mother is someone we've seen before on Fear the Walking Dead. "It's a great question, but it really is such a big one that we'd rather people experience the answer to that as the story unfolds." Chambliss added: "And we like it when people have crazy theories."

Is Tracy Alicia's daughter? Is Troy telling the truth about killing Alicia? Those are questions that will be answered before the two-episode series finale on November 19.

"Whether Troy is telling the truth is something that you're just going to have to watch the rest of the season to find out," Goldberg told ComicBook in a post-premiere interview. "We will definitely find out whether or not Troy's story is true," Chambliss teased, "and what actually went down between Troy and Alicia."

New episodes of Fear the Walking Dead premiere Sundays on AMC and AMC+.

Stay tuned to ComicBook/TWD (and find us on Facebook) and follow @CameronBonomolo on Twitter for more TWD Universe coverage.

One of the true modern classic horror films is finally getting the sequel treatment. It Follows, the 2014 from writer/director David Robert Mitchell, debuted nearly a decade ago to critical acclaim and around $15 million at the domestic box office. It has done nothing but grow in popularity in the years since. Neon, the studio behind the film, announced on Monday that it is moving forward with a sequel.

Neon kicked off 2023's American Film Market (AFM) with news of the It Follows sequel, which is titled They Follow. David Robert Mitchell will be returning to write and direct the sequel, with original It Follows star Maika Monroe set to reprise her role as Jay Height. The studio is tentatively looking to begin production on the new film early in 2024.

According to Deadline, Neon will be co-producing They Follows alongside Good Fear Content. Mitchell will be a producer, along with Jake Weiner, Chris Bender, David Kaplan, Erik Rommesmo, Rebecca Green, and Laura Smith.

In addition to the announcement, Neon shared some initial artwork for the new film's title, which includes the tagline, "They're everywhere." That alludes to a potential major expansion of the It Follows world and lore. Take a look!

It's everywhere.

THEY FOLLOW.
The long-awaited sequel to the modern horror classic IT FOLLOWS from David Robert Mitchell.
Coming soon. pic.twitter.com/V1IiS7PpzU

-- NEON (@neonrated) October 30, 2023

Maika Monroe on an It Follows Sequel

Back in 2020, ComicBook.com spoke with Monroe ahead of the debut of The Stranger, and asked about a potential sequel to It Follows. While nothing was officially in the works at that time, Monroe made it clear that she wanted to collaborate with Mitchell again.

"I would absolutely love to work with David again." Monroe told us. "That would be a dream, but, you know, we'll just have to wait and see."

Monroe went on to talk about her overall experience with It Follows, and watching the fandom grow bigger and more passionate over time.

"It's been a crazy ride. Being a part of It Follows, there's so many movies that have changed the horror genre, but I know that It Follows is such a massive influence and this change of the genre, which was so cool to be a part of, and so many people really connected with that film," the actress recalled of the experience. "For me, with these projects, all I can do is give the most honest performance and I don't look at it necessarily as a horror film or thriller or this or that. It's just me really falling into this character and bringing as much truth as I can so that people can really fall into the story."

Are you excited to see a sequel to It Follows? Let us know in the comments!

Amazon's acquisition of MGM resulted in Amazon Studios being able to revive a number of beloved properties, with Variety confirming today that the studio is officially moving forward with a TV series revival of Poltergeist. There are currently no confirmed filmmakers attached to the project, nor are there any details about the series' plot, though Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey are on board to serve as executive producers. The property was previously connected to Avengers: Endgame co-director Joe Russo, who had spent years hoping to revive the premise in some capacity, though he doesn't appear to be attached to this revival. Stay tuned for updates on the future of the Poltergeist franchise.

The original 1982 Poltergeist was developed by Steven Spielberg and was directed by Tobe Hooper, which told the story of a family that was seemingly targeted by otherworldly spirits, resulting in the disappearance of their young daughter Carol Anne. A group of paranormal investigators came to the family's rescue, which also came with the reveal that their idyllic suburban community had been built on top of an ancient burial ground.

The 1982 film earned two direct sequels, while Showtime developed the TV series Poltergeist: The Legacy in the '90s, which earned four seasons. That series focused on the investigators who came to the aid of families in need. In 2015, Gil Kenan helped an official big-screen reboot of the concept.

Poltergeist serves as a seminal example of the haunted house genre, with its legacy still looming large today. The partnership between two iconic storytellers in the genre proved to be a powerful combination, with the project also nearly seeing Hooper and Spielberg joined by iconic author Stephen King.

"It didn't work out because it was before the internet and we had a communication breakdown," King previously shared with Entertainment Weekly. "I was on a ship going across the Atlantic to En-gland."

Spielberg confirmed this anecdote, admitting, "I wanted him to help me out with the script and sort of write it with me, but he was unavailable."

This also marks the latest announcement of an iconic horror franchise pivoting to TV, as it was confirmed earlier this month that Halloween was earning a TV revival.

Stay tuned for updates on the future of the Poltergeist franchise.

Are you looking forward to the reboot? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

In last year's Hocus Pocus 2, the trio of the Sanderson sisters from the original Hocus Pocus made returns, though the film otherwise focused on all-new characters. Writer of the sequel Jen D'Angelo recently revealed that one version of the story featured scenes in which Max, one of the main teens from the first movie, would have had an on-screen reunion with the witchy sisters, and that Jay and Ice, the bullies who tormented Max, also would have shown up in the sequel. With D'Angelo attached to develop a third entry into the series, it's still possible that more characters from the 1993 movie could appear.

"There was a version where Max (Omri Katz) had a cameo," D'Angelo revealed to Entertainment Weekly. "We love these characters so much and they're so iconic that if we do see them, we want them to really have a reason for being in the story, not just to be able to see them and check it off the list."

That script featured Max's return "very briefly" and he would have been "able to have one quick moment with the Sanderson Sisters." D'Angelo said it was "a very tough decision" to cut the cameo. The writer went on to express her disappointment at cutting a scene featuring cameos with Jay (Tobias Jelinek) and Ice (Larry Bagby).

"There was also a version where Jay and Ice came back, because I have such a soft spot for them. I find them very emotional also. Even though they're these cartoonish bullies, they're sweet. They get a real punishment at the end: they're locked in the cages for how long? They've been humbled," D'Angelo detailed. "One of the jokes that naturally had to fall out that I was so sad to lose was that Ice and Jay were handing out candy, and they saw the Sanderson Sisters fly past. You think they're going to jump in and save the day, but they immediately run and hide because they're cowards."

Alongside Katz, the original film also starred Vinessa Shaw and Thora Birch. Of all the original teens, Birch came quite close to appearing in Hocus Pocus 2, though scheduling conflicts ultimately prevented her return.

Stay tuned for details on the future of the Hocus Pocus franchise.

Do you hope these original stars return in the future? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

While people have been claiming for decades that they have come into close contact with visitors from other worlds, they are typically innocuous citizens and are rarely figures that have public personas that are known around the world. Overboard and Snatched star Goldie Hawn, however, is changing that notion, as she recently revealed that she believes she had physical contact with intergalactic visitors, which was an experience she first dismissed as being part of a dream. Years later, a meeting with an astrophysicist saw her recalling the experience vividly, at which point she remembered she had been touched by one of the beings, resulting in a "loving" feeling.

"I saw these two or three triangular-shaped heads. They were silver in color, slash for a mouth, tiny little nose, no ears," Hawn shared with the Apple Fitness+ podcast, detailing an experience in which she fell asleep in a friend's car. "They were pointing at me, pointing at me in the car as if they were discussing me, like I was a subject. And they were droning..."

Hawn continued, "I didn't know if it was real or not real. And finally, I burst out of it. It was like bursting out of a forcefield. And of course, I go back to all the kids and stuff, and I went, 'Oh, my God. I think I made contact with outer space,' I mean, something like that."

A chance visit to a virtual reality lab, in which Hawn was transported through the Milky Way, led to the realization that it seemingly wasn't a dream she had had all those years ago.

"I went into what I consider the most beautiful place I've ever seen. I was happy. I was calm. It felt so beautiful. It was so weird, but I felt kind of at home," the actor recalled. "I got emotional, tear here and there, and I said, 'I don't understand it, but I did have an experience once that had to do with maybe being visited by someone.'"

She likened the experience to being like "regression therapy," as she detailed, "Suddenly I remembered something. They touched my face. They touched my face, and it felt like the finger of God. It was the most benevolent, loving feeling. This was powerful. It was filled with light."

Hawn admitted that she'll likely never have a concrete explanation for these encounters, a revelation she's okay with.

"I'll never know. And I kind of like it that way. I don't want to know everything," Hawn confessed. "We cut ourselves off from a lot of things if we're continuing to deny something that we have no proof over. There's a lot of things in this world that we can't see, but we can't stop believing."

She added, "We can never, ever lose our wonder. It's just no fun. It's really an important aspect of being an adventurer, where nothing is impossible."

Interestingly, Hawn's longtime partner Kurt Russell also reportedly had a close encounter with alien beings, as it was Russell who reported on the mysterious lights hovering over Phoenix, Arizona back in 1997, one of the most well-known incidents of witnesses spotting lights in the sky.

What do you think of the actor's remarks? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

One of the most memorable sequences in Kenneth Branagh's A Haunting in Venice, and a key encounter that set the whole film in motion, was a seance in which messages were seemingly being sent from beyond and into the world of the living. On the home video release of the Agatha Christie adaptation, fans can learn all about how this sequence came to life, along with being able to dive deeper into all corners of how the spooky mystery was crafted. You can check out an exclusive look at the new featurette above before A Haunting in Venice lands on Digital HD on October 31st and on Blu-ray and DVD on November 28th.

A Haunting in Venice is set in eerie, post-World War II Venice on All Hallows' Eve and is a terrifying mystery featuring the return of the celebrated sleuth, Hercule Poirot. Now retired and living in self-imposed exile in the world's most glamorous city, Poirot reluctantly attends a s?ance at a decaying, haunted palazzo. When one of the guests is murdered, the detective is thrust into a sinister world of shadows and secrets.

Reuniting many of the filmmakers behind 2017's Murder on the Orient Express and 2022's Death on the Nile, the film is directed by Kenneth Branagh with a screenplay by Oscar nominee Michael Green (Logan) based upon Agatha Christie's novel Hallowe'en Party. The producers are Kenneth Branagh, Judy Hofflund, Ridley Scott, and Simon Kinberg, with Louise Killin, James Prichard, and Mark Gordon serving as executive producers. A brilliant acting ensemble portrays a cast of unforgettable characters, including Kenneth Branagh, Kyle Allen (Rosaline), Camille Cottin (Call My Agent), Jamie Dornan (Belfast), Tina Fey (30 Rock), Jude Hill (Belfast), Ali Khan (6 Underground), Emma Laird (Mayor of Kingstown), Kelly Reilly (Yellowstone), Riccardo Scamarcio (Caravaggio's Shadow), and recent Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once).

This marked Branagh's third Agatha Christie adaptation, but for those familiar with her original Hallowe'en Party novel, A Haunting in Venice leans more into the supernatural. Producer James Prichard previously explained the reason for the tonal shift.

"If we are going to continue to make these films, we can't do the same thing over and over," Prichard shared with Total Film earlier this year about leaning more into the world of supernatural horror. "A departure at this moment is possibly risky, but it also has the potential to keep it alive, bring in a different audience, and do something interesting that will hopefully surprise and delight."

A Haunting in Venice hits Digital HD on October 31st and hits Blu-ray and DVD on November 28th.

Will you be adding the film to your collection? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

Tomorrow is Halloween, which means it's time to play a horror game. Unfortunately, Nintendo Switch users have missed out on this year's trio of huge horror releases: Alan Wake 2, Resident Evil 4, and Dead Space. To this end, if you need a new horror game to play because you've already played Mario Party over 50 times, then you can't go wrong with any of the horror games below because not only are they great, but they are all on sale for just $1.99 for a limited time.

Two of the four games below are specifically only available at this price point until November 1, while the other two games are available until November 2 and November 3, respectively. In other words, time is running out to play these games at these price points. That said, below you can check out a trailer for each game and read an official product description for each game.

Slender: The Arrival

"You're on your own. No one to come for you. No one to help you. No one to hear you scream. Slender: The Arrival is the official video game adaptation of Slender Man, re-created from Mark Hadley's original nerve-shattering sensation. Developed by Blue Isle Studios, The Arrival features a brand new storyline, improved visuals, great replay value, and most importantly, survival horror at its best."

• 88 percent of 7,089 user reviews positive

Stories Untold:

"Stories Untold is a compilation tape of four experimental adventures, including a remaster of the original hit episode 'The House Abandon'.

• 87 percent of 3,652 user reviews positive

Sagebrush

"Sagebrush is a short-form first-person narrative adventure about exploring the compound of an apocalyptic Millenialist cult in remote New Mexico years after they collectively took their lives in a mass suicide event. In Sagebrush, you'll investigate the long-abandoned Black Sage Ranch, the former home of Perfect Heaven, an apocalyptic cult formed in the early 1990s under the guiding hand of the prophet Father James."

• 95 percent of 188 user reviews positive

Flipping Death (Non-Horror Halloween Game)

"When Penny dies under mysterious circumstances, she wakes up and finds herself filling in for DEATH HIMSELF! This temp job comes with a new power - the ability to flip between the worlds of the living and the dead! In this puzzling platformer, she'll need that - and her wits - if she ever hopes to unravel the mystery of her demise."

• 89 percent of 154 user reviews positive

Five Nights at Freddy's, which just wrapped up Blumhouse's biggest-ever opening weekend, shares some DNA with Scream. Not only does it feature Matthew Lillard, who was a standout in the original Scream, but it's got that same pop culture-obsessed vibe, drenching its horror in the familiar. The original Freddy's concept, which plays with the unintentional creepiness of Chuck E. Cheese's animatronics, feels like it shares some DNA with the movie-obsessed world and characters of Scream.

At the heart of the similarities is Lillard, one of cinema's most likable character actors but also someone who generally plays characters who just read as a bit "off." We asked Five Nights at Freddy's filmmaker Emma Tammi about working with the actor.

Spoilers follow for Five Nights at Freddy's, in theaters now.

"Matthew is stepping into an iconic character in terms of the lore of FNAF, and he himself is so iconic in the horror genre," Tammi told ComicBook.com. "But also, the Scooby-Doo franchise. He is just multitudes in and of himself and is so incredibly creative and enthusiastic and wonderful to inhabit this character and really make it something all his own. So we were so lucky to have him. I think his story isn't over; if we're lucky enough to make more of these, it has only just begun."

Blumhouse's Five Nights at Freddy's movie largely follows the initial setup of the game, in which a security guard is besieged by malicious pizzeria animatronics come to life. Of course, that's a little thin; audiences need a bit more than that for a movie adaptation, so the story has been built up around that premise. An official synopsis for the movie released previously shared more info on what roles people would be playing as well as why they're even in this undesirable situation in the first place.

"The film follows Mike (Josh Hutcherson; Ultraman, The Hunger Games franchise) a troubled young man caring for his 10-year-old sister Abby (Piper Rubio; Holly & Ivy, Unstable), and haunted by the unsolved disappearance of his younger brother more than a decade before," says an official synopsis for the film. "Recently fired and desperate for work so that he can keep custody of Abby, Mike agrees to take a position as a night security guard at an abandoned theme restaurant: Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. But Mike soon discovers that nothing at Freddy's is what it seems. With the aid of Vanessa, a local police officer (Elizabeth Lail; You, Mack & Rita), Mike's nights at Freddy's will lead him into unexplainable encounters with the supernatural and drag him into the black heart of an unspeakable nightmare."

Five Nights at Freddy's is now playing in theaters and is available to stream on Peacock.

[Spoiler alert for Sunday's "Iron Tiger" episode of Fear the Walking Dead.] "The truth matters. Even if it's just heard out loud. Even if it's just heard once." Those are words said during the "Good Out Here" season 4 episode of Fear the Walking Dead, which ended with a bang when 11-year-old Vulture spy Charlie (Alexa Nisenson) suddenly shot and killed Nick Clark (Frank Dillane). The truth was heard out loud on Sunday's "Iron Tiger" episode of season 8, which also ended with a shocking gunshot after Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) confronted the now young woman who murdered her son. And both times, it was Charlie pulling the trigger.

The episode showed a reunited Madison, Victor Strand (Colman Domingo), and Daniel Salazar (Rub?n Blades) learning that Luciana (Danay Garc?a) has spent the past seven years making gasoline for PADRE while using its supplies to continue trucker "Polar Bear" Clayton's mission of leaving help boxes with the message "take what you need, leave what you don't." Only Luciana's covert do-gooder operation has set up two dozen way stations across the country to help people, freighting fuel and provisions by way of a trucker with the CB handle "Iron Tiger."

"Iron Tiger" was revealed to be a 20-year-old Charlie, who Strand thought was dead because she was suffering from radiation poisoning and "weeks away from death" when they left irradiated Texas by raft. As it turned out, June Dorie (Jenna Elfman) was able to treat Charlie at PADRE, but her condition made her too dangerous to raise on the island with the other kids. Charlie was so guilt-ridden over Nick's death she helped Luciana build her way stations to "turn all that hurt and all the pain into something more."

A contrite Charlie then confessed to killing Nick and apologized to Madison. Ennis (Evan Gamble) unleashed the zombie horde that overran and destroyed the stadium and seemingly killed Madison, so Nick killed Ennis, and Charlie, in turn, killed Nick. To repent, Charlie agreed to infiltrate the hotel commandeered by Troy Otto (Daniel Sharman) and kill the man who claims he murdered Alicia, with Madison telling her: "You took the stadium from me. You took my son from me. This is the least you can do."

Madison had a last-minute change of heart when she discovered that Charlie helped Luciana exhume Nick's body and cremate his remains to bury him properly, but not before Troy took Charlie hostage to make Madison trade her life for PADRE's location. "I'm not gonna watch another place you built fall because of me," Charlie said, turning a gun on herself. "The place she's building, it's what Alicia wanted. And it's how Nick's death can mean something."

With that, Charlie took away Troy's leverage by taking her own life.

"It was a big decision, and it really came from this place of wanting to give Charlie a true sendoff. The last time we saw her, she was on that boat suffering from radiation sickness, and it felt like that might be her end. But as we got into the season, it felt to us like she deserved more than that," Andrew Chambliss, who serves as showrunner with Ian Goldberg, told ComicBook about Charlie's death. "In thinking about Madison's story and all the things that she'd have to grapple with this season, we really wanted to put Charlie and Madison together. Charlie served as the ultimate test for Madison about how much she actually had changed. Could she forgive the person who killed her son? Ultimately, she was able to do that, although it was very messy in this episode, and it put Charlie in this very precarious position. It seemed like, to give Charlie that forgiveness, and make up for essentially driving her to Troy, she would have to give up PADRE -- the thing that she was fighting for."

Chambliss continued, "I think from Charlie's point of view, she couldn't let Madison do that because Madison wouldn't be able to secure the thing that would allow Nick and Alicia's legacy to live on. That ultimately led to her decision to sacrifice herself. It felt fitting for Charlie to leave the show in that way. She came into the show lying about her past as a spy who ended up leading to the downfall of the settlement that Madison had built for her children. Now, here she is exiting the show, giving her life so that she could secure that very same thing for Madison going forward."

While Charlie's death meant something, it also meant Madison leaving Strand to keep his promise to Alicia and rebuild PADRE -- without her. But as has been said often this season: "Everyone deserves a second chance."

"Madison's obviously struggling with whether or not she can seek redemption, whether or not she can give all these people at PADRE the gift of family, a place where they can be safe, the things she always wanted for her own children," Chambliss explained. "Daniel's trying to have a second chance with Luciana, and then obviously losing Charlie comes a big blow to him that it feels like the family he's building is in danger. We'll see that theme resonate as we get into Dwight, Sherry, June's stories later in the season."

Chambliss added that the question of who deserves a second chance is "definitely a big part" of the final episodes. "It's a question that the finale of the series is really going to answer in a big way," Chambliss said of the two-episode series finale airing Sunday, November 19.

New episodes of Fear the Walking Dead premiere Sundays on AMC and AMC+.

Stay tuned to ComicBook/TWD (and find us on Facebook) and follow @CameronBonomolo on Twitter for more TWD Universe coverage.

While the new TV adaptation of R.L. Stine's iconic Goosebumps books focuses on a group of five teenagers, it's one of the veterans of the show's cast that is generating the most conversation. Justin Long, who has become well-known for his roles in both horror and comedy, plays perhaps the wackiest and wildest role in Disney+ and Hulu's new Goosebumps TV series.

In Goosebumps, Justin Long plays Mr. Bratt, an English teacher who gets possessed by the ghost of a vengeful 16-year-old just after moving into town. The duality of Mr. Bratt and the ghost requires a wide range of abilities, and has given Long a lot of freedom with his performance. In a recent interview with US Weekly, Goosebumps executive producer Pavun Shetty heaped praise on Long's talents.

"We were super lucky to get Justin for this role," Shetty explained. "He has done a lot of comedy, a lot of adolescent comedy and coming-of-age comedy, too. But he has also done real horror. He did Jeepers Creepers, which is a super scary adult movie. He was [also] just coming off Barbarian too, where he got to be goofy but also was super intense.

"He [can do] comedic stuff and horror at the same time. And luckily he's a really gifted physical actor too. That played a lot into this role."

Shetty went on to explain how Long's history with both horror and comedy proved vital to this specific role as Mr. Bratt.

"He's literally haunted by the ghost of a 16-year-old kid that takes over his body. So a lot of [the acting involves] that mental strain," the producer said. "But it's also his body learning how to act while it's being possessed. He really jumped in. He threw himself against lockers as he was banging his head on things. He was transforming between a kid and an adult trying to fight himself."

"[That] was the key for this role and for every role really because we were trying to tow that line of scary and funny," Shetty continued. "It was important to us that the kids -- but also the adults -- were able to land a joke [and] to have comedic timing. But also [they had to] be able to really lean into the drama as well."

Goosebumps is available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu. New episodes drop every Friday on both services.

"What are you even fighting for?" The question that Troy (Daniel Sharman) asked Madison (Kim Dickens) to end last week's Fear the Walking Dead premiere has an answer: "We take the fight to Troy." After learning that Troy is alive and her daughter Alicia is dead, Madison, Victor Strand (Colman Domingo), and Daniel Salazar (Rub?n Blades) have Hawk (Triston Dye) take them to where PADRE got their fuel supply. PADRE picked up tankers from the Lowcountry Landing gas station, but the tanks are empty -- and so is Madison's patience. She wants to finish what she started back at the Gonzalez Dam in Mexico.

"He took a daughter away from me too. I know what you're feeling," Daniel reminds Madison, referring to his daughter Ofelia, who succumbed to a walker's bite after Troy led a zombie herd to Broke Jaw Ranch. "But first, we do what we need to do to protect the island. Then we make Troy wish he died back at the dam." Madison confides in Strand: she regrets not trying to look for Alicia and learning too late that her daughter was alive. "If what Troy said is true, if she's still out there... I can't let her walk around like that forever. I need to put her to rest. I need to bury her. All of her."

The gas station is well-stocked with food, water, medical supplies, and what Strand calls a "relic of a bygone era": a familiar cardboard sign reading, "TAKE WHAT YOU NEED, LEAVE WHAT YOU DON'T."

Meanwhile, Madison draws the attention of a roaming walker missing its left arm. Strand realizes it's not Alicia just before the walkers clawing at the window smash through the glass into the store, only to be gunned down by... Luciana (Danay Garc?a). She's assumed the handle Polar Bear from Clayton and picked up where Morgan's group left off in season 5, helping people on the side while making gasoline for PADRE during the last seven years.

Madison reunites with Luciana, and Luci with Daniel, who has been looking for his mija for years. Luciana explains PADRE recognized her experience working the oil fields at the Tank Town quarry and had her working in the shadows, refining oil from PADRE's military reserves. They used Daniel against her: Luciana asked for his freedom in exchange for making gas, explaining why PADRE dumped Daniel in the swamp instead of killing him seven years ago.

The gas station is an outpost miles away from the refinery, which Luciana converted into a way station for travelers using supplies stolen from PADRE's shipping containers meant to seed new communities across the United States. As "Polar Bear," Luciana has been secretly operating 23 active locations and a network of roads running from Georgia through Arizona. Luciana agrees to give them gas for their fight against Troy's army under one condition: Troy doesn't figure out where the fuel is coming from. Luciana is concerned about protecting her operation and the people who run it, including a tanker truck driver with the handle "Iron Tiger."

Luciana attempts to hide Iron Tiger's identity... until Iron Tiger reveals herself as Charlie (Alexa Nisenson), now seven years older, and not dead from radiation poisoning. June Dorie (Jenna Elfman) didn't have what she needed at Strand's Tower to treat her radiation sickness, but PADRE did. Charlie wasn't sent to the island with the other kids because they didn't know whether Blue Jay's experimental radiotherapy treatments work, so she's spent the past seven years helping Luciana build up her network. Madison is confused: Why did Luciana try to hide Charlie? Because of what happened at the stadium?

"You haven't told her," Luciana realizes. "I didn't think there was a reason to," Strand says, because he thought Charlie was dead. Madison wants the truth, and it comes when Charlie confesses: "I shot Nick. I killed your son." A contrite Charlie apologizes, but she's whisked away by Daniel as Strand restrains Madison. She hammers out her anger as she thinks of Nick. Hugging her son. Nick on the bridge at the dam. Madison holding Nick in a hospital bed. Nick resting in a field of bluebonnets.

Strand has his own confession. He thought Charlie was dead, and he didn't think it mattered. "You didn't think it mattered that the girl I brought into the stadium killed my son?" Madison explodes, and then sobs. "If I hadn't brought her in the stadium, Nick might still be here! If I hit Troy harder, Alicia might be here! If I just did it differently... they both might be here." She rages again: How could they let Charlie in after what she did to Nick? "We gave her the same thing that everyone else wants," he explains. "A second chance." Strand then tells her that Alicia was the first to forgive Charlie, but no one is expecting her to forgive her son's killer. Least of all Charlie, who confronts Madison and apologizes for being an 11-year-old girl who was scared and being used by the Vultures.

"I really am sorry that I took Nick from you. I'm so sorry I took him from the world." Charlie has spent the past seven years taking that hurt and pain to "turn it into something more" by helping Luciana help people, telling Madison: "As bad as his death was, something good did come out of it, okay? And if there's anything I can do to help you see that good, just tell me. I'll do it." Charlie snuck into the stadium and fooled Madison, Alicia, Strand, and Nick -- and now she needs her to do the same with Troy. But Madison doesn't want Charlie to be a spy... she wants her to be an assassin and kill Troy. "You took the stadium from me. You took my son from me," she says with venom. "This is the least you can do."

Daniel is wary of sending Charlie into the viper's nest and offers to go in her place, but Madison says it has to be Charlie because Troy doesn't know her. "For years, I thought you and Luciana were dead. Now that I have found you, I don't want to risk losing either of you again," Daniel tells Charlie, only for her to assure him that he won't lose her. She wants to do this -- needs to do this. Charlie also tells Madison she's going to try to find out what happened to Alicia, because "she was the one that helped me see that I could start over," she says. "I know you don't believe me, but I really am sorry about everything. I wish I could take back what I did to Nick. He was like a brother to me." Madison spews hate: "Then you wouldn't have shot him!"

Daniel is right to fear for Charlie: her ruse fails, and she's captured by Troy. Strand is concerned about what they're doing to protect PADRE. "What's the point of saving it if we turn into the opposite of what Alicia wanted us to build?" Madison, not willing to let Troy take the island from her too, assures Strand: "If Charlie meant what she said about Nick, she's gonna show us by taking care of Troy." Madison has a change of heart when she sees Charlie left her a coffee can containing Nick's ashes. Luciana explains: some time during those seven years, they were clearing roads in North Texas when Charlie wanted to see where Nick was buried so she could apologize.

When Charlie found out why Nick was buried beneath a tree on the side of the road in Hill Country -- because of Alicia, Strand, and Luciana's ruse to get a weapons cache to kill the Vultures -- she said he deserved something better. So they exhumed Nick's body, cremated what was left of him, and brought him here. "It didn't mean anything to you?" Madison asks, heartbroken. "Charlie's right. He deserves better." That's what Luciana and Charlie want -- and Charlie thinks Madison knows best where she should lay her son to rest.

Madison radios Charlie with a message to come back to bury Nick -- "If you brought him all the way back from Texas for me, then you should be there when we say goodbye" -- but it's too late. Troy's soldiers have Charlie hostage at the commandeered Emissary Suites, which means Madison can finally take the fight to Troy. Back at the hotel, Troy's soldiers remove the left arms of caged walkers with orders to release them after he's finished with Charlie. She asks why he killed Alicia, but Troy doesn't answer. "Seeing as it sounds like I'm not the only person to have killed a Clark," he deflects, "is what Madison said true? Did you kill Nick? "He was a friend of mine. More like a brother, actually. Yeah, we were better suited to this world than the last one. At least that's what I thought until I heard what happened. So why is Madison trying to protect you?" The answer: she's giving Charlie a second chance.

Troy wants PADRE because they need a place "that people like Madison can't take from us," he says. They took the Emissary Suites in an afternoon, and no one is taking PADRE easily -- and taking PADRE from Madison is icing on the cake. Charlie doesn't know where PADRE is, but a map in the tanker truck lists all of PADRE's fuel drop sites. It would be a good tip... if the rigged-to-blow tanker didn't suddenly explode outside the hotel. As Troy's soldiers try to contain the blaze, Madison, Daniel, Strand, and Luciana race to the hotel to find the flaming wreck drawing walkers (many of them missing their left arms).

Over walkie-talkie, Madison warns Troy not to hurt Charlie. Troy taunts Madison about what Nick would think about her protecting her son's killer. "He'd get it. People change, Troy," she tells him. "They can do shitty things and come back from them." Charlie hears it. If Madison thinks that, she's going to have to give up PADRE to save Charlie's life. Daniel wants to make the trade. Charlie doesn't.

Outside the hotel, it's a standoff as Madison's army and Troy's army negotiate Charlie's return for PADRE's location. ("If you hurt her...," Madison threatens Troy, "I'm gonna make you wish I only took the other eye." If Troy hands over Charlie, she'll tell him where to find PADRE. Troy wants the location first -- then they get the girl Madison sent in there to die. There's a back-and-forth about getting Charlie or PADRE first, but Madison is willing to give up PADRE if it means Charlie lives. It's decided Strand will escort Troy's right-hand man, Russell (Randy Bernales), to PADRE so he can verify the location. And then, only then, will he release Charlie. "I really don't give a shit about the girl, Madison," he says as nonchalant as one can be when trading lives. "I just want a safe place to live."

When Madison asks why Troy cares so much about PADRE, he tells her: "You took everything from me. I'm just doing the same for you." The psycopath laughs it off when she asks if his vendetta is about his father, Jeremiah Otto, and the ranch. It's much more personal. But before Troy can tell Madison what she supposedly took from him, Strand wants assurance that the Germans who vacated the Emissary Suites for PADRE -- including his family, partner Frank (Isha Blaaker), and their son, Klaus (Julian Gray) -- won't be harmed. Troy says he wants the settlement, not the people, so it's a deal. But before Madison can hand over the map to PADRE, Charlie escapes her bonds, stabs a guard in the neck, and threatens to kill another. "I'm not gonna watch another place you built fall because of me," Charlie tells Madison over walkie-talkie, not letting Madison talk her down from her penance for killing Nick.

"It's not for her. The place she's building, it's what Alicia wanted. And it's how Nick's death can mean something," Charlie says, despite Madison's pleas. "On the rafts, when we left the Tower, Victor told me that's what Alicia said to him when she thought she was dying. 'Make it mean something.'" She knows that if Troy kills her, he doesn't get PADRE. "You won't have to give him PADRE if he doesn't have anything to trade."

Charlie puts a gun to her chin. Memories flicker through her brain: Nick and Charlie at the stadium. Madison. Daniel. Alicia's forgiveness. Nick smiling. Daniel. Alicia and Charlie. Closing her eyes. She thinks of the beach. Charlie always thought of the beach. And then --

BANG!

"She's dead," the guard reports. Daniel is destroyed. In his rage, he has to be pulled away from Troy lest he tear him apart with his bare hands. Troy wants Madison's map, but his priorities change when Russell reports that Tracy is missing. Madison is surprised to learn that Troy's people have kids in the hotel. "Why do you think we wanted PADRE?" he says, panicked. "The same reason as you!" Troy races after Tracy, wading into the walker-filled hazy smoke of the burning tanker truck. As the dead swarm the hotel, Madison figures out that Tracy is Troy's daughter. "Why didn't you tell us what you wanted instead of trying to take it?" Madison asks, exasperated. "What," Troy shoots back, "so you could just take my daughter from me, too?" Madison still doesn't know what -- or who -- she took from him, but Troy blames her for Tracy's mother's death.

Madison's anger boils over when she realizes it's Troy who has been cutting the arms off walkers, making her think Alicia is everywhere she looks. She attacks Troy, swinging her sledge hammer and interrogating him about Alicia: "Why did you kill her?! Who do you think I took from you?" Troy tells her, "The woman who rescued me from the dam. The woman who gave me a second chance. Please. I need to find my girl."

Everyone deserves a second chance... but not Troy. In her fury, she tells Troy that he's "gonna know what it's like to be wondering where your kid is." To that, he says, "Mine could still be alive." Strand tears Madison away to escape the area under threat from flames and infected, but it wouldn't be the first time Madison made it out alive. Troy takes off to find Tracy, leaving Madison, Strand, Daniel, and Luciana to deal with the fallout of Charlie's death.

The fallout: Luci gives Madison a ration of fuel and stern notice that's all she's getting. Luci is angry that Madison got Charlie killed and exposed her people to Troy. Daniel, not wanting to lose Luci like he lost Ofelia and Charlie, cuts ties with Madison. In Spanish, he says to Luci: "One time, I told you we were family, remember? Allow me to come with you. To help you and take care of you, as I have wanted for years." Daniel and Luci leave together with Charlie's body, their familia going from four to two as they leave Madison and Strand behind.

More fallout: Madison tells Strand she can't go back to PADRE. It's her fault Charlie is dead, and she can't ask anyone to follow her because of it. "We're not building PADRE for you. We're building PADRE for Alicia, for Nick, for Frank and Klaus," he reminds her. If Madison stays, PADRE doesn't happen. "You have to do it," she says, handing him the keys to the tanker. "You have to keep the promise you made to Alicia." He can't do it alone. "You're gonna have to." Madison, carrying Alicia's arm and Nick's ashes, walks off. Alone.

Iron Tiger out.

New episodes of Fear the Walking Dead premiere Sundays on AMC and AMC+.

Stay tuned to ComicBook/TWD (and find us on Facebook) and follow @CameronBonomolo on Twitter for more TWD Universe coverage.

"No one's gone until they're gone." Those are the last words that Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) imparted onto her children, Nick (Frank Dillane) and Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey). After the Vultures' assault on the Dell Diamond baseball stadium she hoped to turn into a thriving community, the Clark family matriarch made the ultimate sacrifice for her kids: Madison led a horde of infected into the overrun ballpark so the others could escape, locked herself inside, and seemingly died when the stadium was engulfed in flames. But no one's gone until they're gone. Madison survived... only to later be informed by Morgan Jones (Lennie James) that her children are gone gone.

"Nick got shot. Victor, Alicia, Luciana... we were all there when it happened. We buried him ourselves," Morgan told the mother who had "Nick" and "Alicia" tattooed on her wrists when she was a Collector for PADRE, which claimed it would reunite Madison with her own kids by having her separate children from their parents. She also learned that Alicia got bit by a walker and had to amputate her arm -- but not before infection set in. "She fought it for months, longer than anybody I know," Morgan informed Madison. "But the last time I talked to her... she was close to the end."

That was seven years ago. Morgan didn't tell Madison who killed Nick, and it took Troy Otto (Daniel Sharman) coming back from the dead to tell her what happened to Alicia. Madison's mission now is "about keeping something bigger alive" by rebuilding PADRE "into what it should have always been, for them": for Nick and Alicia. The Clark kids may be gone, but showrunners Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss are keeping Fear a family affair for the final episodes.

"From the beginning of the series, everything for Madison has been about her family. It has been the drive for her from the beginning. Even when we learned about her in her darkest hour, and the things that she did while she was under PADRE's thumb, even that was ultimately motivated by her children," Goldberg told ComicBook. "I think as we get into the final episodes of the series, Madison's in this place where she no longer has her own children and she's wrestling with how she can honor them by this family at PADRE. Both the kids that are left behind in the wake of Madison taking over PADRE, but also the family that she has built along the way with all the characters that we all love. It really is just extrapolating her motivation for her kids and her family and applying it to this new family that she's created."

Remind yourself what happened to Nick and Alicia with this Fear the Walking Dead recap:

How Did Nick Die in Fear the Walking Dead?

After Nick and Madison brought 11-year-old orphaned Charlie (Alexa Nisenson) into the stadium, it turned out the young girl was a spy for Mel (Kevin Zegers) and the Vultures: scavengers who would wait for other groups of survivors to succumb to starvation or abandon their camps before picking them clean. When the Vulture Ennis (Evan Gamble) led the zombie attack that caused the fall of the stadium and Madison's apparent death, her vengeful son tracked down his nemesis and -- despite Morgan's attempt to impart his "all life is precious" philosophy and teach Nick the ways of The Art of Peace -- Nick killed Ennis.

Ennis was then avenged by Charlie, who shot Nick in the chest in the season 4 episode "Good Out Here." Nick died surrounded by Alicia, Strand (Colman Domingo), and Luciana (Danay Garc?a), with a bullet in his chest and a bluebonnet in his hand. During a past supply run with Madison, his mother told him to look for a sign of "something good" while outside the stadium. "Told you there was still good out here," Madison reminded Nick while in a field of bluebonnets. Alicia, Strand, and Luciana -- hardened after Madison and Nick's deaths -- intended Nick's grave to be the same hole where they dug up a weapons cache to kill the Vultures, but Morgan suggested they bury Nick beneath a tree.

Is Alicia Dead on Fear the Walking Dead?

Alicia's own search for PADRE ended with her amputating her zombie-bitten arm and -- after suffering from a fever that wouldn't break -- she seemingly succumbed to infection and collapsed. We last saw Alicia alive on the shores of Galveston, Texas, when she woke up and walked off into the radiactive fallout around Strand's Tower to help other survivors looking for PADRE. Only Troy claims to know what happened during the next seven years: Troy told Madison that he killed Alicia and left her to roam as a walker. Troy then handed over the skeletal remains of Alicia's severed arm as proof of Alicia's death.

"I took it off her corpse after I killed her," Troy taunted Madison. "I would've put her down, Madison. After all the wandering around I did in Mexico, I thought it was only right that Alicia should do the same. Maybe one day you'll find her. Or maybe she'll find you, or maybe not, and finish the job."

"Whether Troy is telling the truth is something that you're just going to have to watch the rest of the season to find out," Goldberg told ComicBook. Chambliss added: "We will definitely find out whether or not Troy's story is true, and what actually went down between Troy and Alicia."

Fear the Walking Dead next airs "Iron Tiger" October 29 on AMC. New episodes premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC and AMC+.

Stay tuned to ComicBook/TWD (and find us on Facebook) and follow @CameronBonomolo on Twitter for more TWD Universe coverage.

The fifth and final season of Stranger Things is currently scheduled to be released on Netflix next year, but it's not the only Stranger Things content fans of the horror show have to look forward to. Earlier this year, Stranger Things: The First Shadow was announced. The stage play is coming to London's West End and is set in Hawkins, Indiana in 1959, and it is based on an original story by the Duffer Brothers, Jack Thorne, and Kate Trefry. The play will feature younger versions of the characters Jim Hopper, Joyce Byers, Bob Newby, and Henry Creel. This week, new photos from the production were shared to the show's Facebook page.

"SNEAK PEEK inside the #StrangerThingsOnStage rehearsal room. ? Performances begin 17 November," Stranger Things on Stage wrote. You can view the photos in the post below:

Who Is Starring in Stranger Things: The First Shadow?

Stranger Things: The First Shadow's cast includes Oscar Lloyd as James Hopper, Jr., Isabella Pappas as Joyce Maldonado, Christopher Buckley as Bob Newby, Michael Jibson as Victor Creel, Patrick Vaill as Dr. Brenner, Shane Attwooll as Chief Hopper, Kemi Awoderu as Sue Anderson, Chase Brown as Lonnie Byers, Ammar Duffus as Charles Sinclair, Gilles Geary as Ted Wheeler, Florence Guy as Karen Childress, Max Harwood as Allen Munson, Louis McCartney as Henry Creel, Matthew Pidgeon as Father Newby, Calum Ross as Walter Henderson, Maisie Norma Seaton as Claudia Henderson, Lauren Ward as Virginia Creel and Ella Karuna Williams as Patty Newby. Additional cast members include Tricia Adele-Turner, Lauren Arney, Reya-Nyomi Brown, Patricia Castro, Lydia Fraser, Isaac Gryn, Mark Hammersley, Tom Peters, Kingdom Sibanda, Tiana Simone, Danny Sykes and Meesha Turner.

"We are beyond excited about Stranger Things: The First Shadow," Matt and Ross Duffer said in a statement. "Collaborating with the brilliant Stephen Daldry has been nothing short of inspiring, and Kate Trefry has written a play that is at turns surprising, scary, and heartfelt. You will meet endearing new characters, as well as very familiar ones, on a journey into the past that sets the groundwork for the future of Stranger Things. We're dying to tell you more about the story but won't - it's more fun to discover it for yourself. Can't wait to see you nerds in London!"

"The world and mythology of Stranger Things has enabled a rich and fertile ground for creating an incredible story for the stage," Sonia Friedman added. "The Duffer Brothers have built a huge global following for good reason, and a world-class creative team has built on their boundless imagination to dream up an unbelievably exciting theatrical event for our audiences. Set within the canon of Stranger Things, this new play opens in London, with the West End hosting the only place in the world to experience this new story - for now. I'm thrilled to reunite with my visionary long-term collaborator Stephen Daldry. Together, with our brilliant Netflix partners, we can't wait to welcome Stranger Things fans into theatre, and theatregoers into the realm of Stranger Things."

Stay tuned for more updates about Stranger Things: The First Shadow.

Troy Otto is alive... and Alicia Clark is dead?! During last Sunday's Fear the Walking Dead premiere, Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) -- who is also back from the dead -- reunited with Victor Strand (Colman Domingo), only to learn her old friend is now calling himself "Anton" and living among German tourists. Other revelations from the premiere: Troy Otto (Daniel Sharman) survived his seemingly fatal bludgeoning at Madison's hands hammer at a dam in Mexico in season 3, and he claims to have killed her daughter (Alycia Debnam-Carey), leaving the one-armed Alicia to roam as a walker as his revenge. Troy's proof: Alicia's severed skeletal arm.

There are just five episodes left of Fear the Walking Dead until the November 19 series finale, including Sunday's "Iron Tiger" episode. Below, find out when and where to watch the final episodes of Fear the Walking Dead and how to catch up on the first seven seasons.

Fear the Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 8 Release Date

Fear the Walking Dead season 8 episode 8, "Iron Tiger," premieres Sunday, October 29, at 9/8c on AMC. The episode is available to stream now on AMC+.

What Time Is Fear the Walking Dead on AMC and AMC+?

New episodes of Fear the Walking Dead season 8 premiere Sundays at 3 a.m. ET / 12 a.m. PT on AMC+, and 9/8c p.m. on the AMC channel through November 19.

Fear the Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 8 Runtime

"Iron Tiger" has a run time of 46 minutes and 50 seconds when watching on AMC+. The episode is scheduled to air from 9:00 p.m. -- 10:14 p.m. on AMC.

Where to Stream Fear the Walking Dead Online Without Cable

Cord-cutters can stream Fear the Walking Dead season 8 on AMC+. Prices start at $4.99/month for the new AMC+ with ads plan, while ad-free AMC+ is available for $6.99/month (when billed annually) or $8.99/month (when billed monthly). New customers can sign up for a 7-day free AMC Plus trial to watch Fear the Walking Dead's final episodes for free in their first week.

AMC+ is available as an app and via Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video Channels, The Roku Channel, Comcast Xfinity, Dish, DirecTV, Sling TV, and YouTube TV.

You can also watch episodes of Fear the Walking Dead season 8 on the AMC website by signing in with your television provider, or by purchasing the episodes ($2.99 for HD, $1.99 for SD) on retailers like Amazon Prime Video and Vudu.

Where Is Fear the Walking Dead Streaming?

Fear the Walking Dead season 8 is streaming on AMC+; the first seven seasons are currently available under the "AMC+ Picks on Max" hub on Max (formerly HBO Max) until October 31, 2023. If you already have an active Max subscription, you can watch Fear the Walking Dead and other select AMC/AMC+ content at no additional cost until Halloween.

Fear the Walking Dead Season 8 Episodes Recaps

Fear the Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 1 Recap: "Remember What They Took From You"
Fear the Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 2 Recap: "Blue Jay"
Fear the Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 3 Recap: "Odessa"
Fear the Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 4 Recap: "King County"
Fear the Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 5 Recap: "More Time Than You Know"
Fear the Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 6 Recap: "All I See Is Red"
Fear the Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 7 Recap: "Anton"

Fear the Walking Dead's final episodes premiere Sundays on AMC and AMC+.

Stay tuned to ComicBook/TWD (and find us on Facebook) and follow @CameronBonomolo on Twitter for more TWD Universe coverage.

Spooky season calls for extra spooky sketches on Saturday Night Live. During the show's latest episode, the crew at Studio 8H lampooned Hallmark Christmas movies by setting them the horror genre. Under the fictional Hallmark Horror label, first-time host Nate Bargatze and Chloe Fineman parodied Hallmark's standard over-the-top rom-com films.

In the sketch, Bargatze's character and Fineman's reconnect after previously attending school together in their small hometown. There's only one problem: Bargatze's character is a serial killer that's been slaughtering much of the townfolk. As you might expect from a Hallmark pic, the meet cute turns into something much more as the two end up getting engaged by the end of the fake trailer. See it all for yourself below.

A Stab at Love, only on Hallmark pic.twitter.com/7BLRpxqGBS

-- Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) October 29, 2023

Who is in the Saturday Night Live cast?

Cast members for Saturday Night Live season 49 include almost the entire cast from season 48 of SNL. Returning stars include Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, James Austin Johnson, Punkie Johnson, Colin Jost, Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson, and Bowen Yang. Featured players that are part of the cast include returning stars Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, and Devon Walker, plus the show's only fully new cast member for the year, newcomer Chloe Troast. The comedy troupe Please Don't Destroy, made up of Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy, are also a recurring part of the series.

New Saturday Night Live Hosts

With the SAG-AFTRA Strike still without a resolution, Saturday Night Live is unable to tap actors to host new episodes since previously they would only appear on the series to promote some new work (prohibited by the rules of the SAG-AFTRA strike). As a result comedians and musicians have been the only hosts confirmed for Saturday Night Live season 49 with Pete Davidson, Bad Bunny, and Nate Bargatze taking the spotlight for the first three episodes.

Saturday Night Live Season 49 is ongoing now with new episodes airing on both NBC and Peacock, starting Saturdays at 11:30 PM ET. All 48 seasons of Saturday Night Live are also now streaming on Peacock.

Come Hell or high water, Francis Lawrence is going to see Constantine 2 through to release. The filmmaker has expressed plenty of interest in filming the long-awaited sequel and now says the studio has once again landed the film rights to John Constantine, clearing the way for the film to be made.

"So Constantine 2 got obviously held up by the writers strike," Lawrence said in a new chat with GameSpot. "And we had to jump through a bunch of hurdles to get control of the character again, because other people had control of the Vertigo stuff. We have control. Keanu and Akiva Goldsman and I have been in meetings and have been hashing out what we think the story is going to be, and there's more meetings of those that have to happen--the script has to be written--but really hoping that we get to do Constantine 2, and make a real rated R version of it."

The director has been increasingly candid in his desires to make the film a legitimate R-rated movie, saying the MPA only gave the first picture the rating because of its religious undertones.

"One of the biggest things for me about the first one was we followed, per Warner Bros., the rules to make a PG-13 movie in terms of violence, blood, language, sexuality. But the ratings board gave us a hard R based on their the gray zone of intensity," Lawrence told Collider last November. "And my big, big regret was that we have an R-rated movie that's really a PG-13 movie. And if I was going to have to go have an R, I would have really made an R-rated movie. I would have made it much scarier and much more violent and I would have really made an R-rated movie."

Should the movie get made, it'd also likely be a part of the new DC Elseworlds offering, existing in a continuity outside of the new DC Universe. Other films that will eventually receive the Elseworlds branding are Matt Reeves' The Batman: Part II and Todd Phillips' Joker: Folie a Deux.

Constantine is now streaming on Max. The sequel has yet to set a release date or release frame at DC Studios.

Stranger Things will be returning for one more season next year, and throughout the previous four seasons, the show has been one of Netflix's tentpole shows. It's maintained its popularity ever since making a major splash with season one, and Winona Ryder has been part of the rollercoaster ride since day one. Ryder's Joyce Byers continues to play an important part in the series, so it's funny to hear that Ryder didn't even know what Netflix was when she auditioned for the role. Stranger Things Executive Producer Shawn Levy spoke with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast and revealed that Ryder was still getting up to speed on not just Netflix but also streaming in general.

When asked about the audition process and casting Ryder and David Harbour, Levy said, "Winona opened our first meeting, the Duffers and I sat down and had tea with her. She opened by asking 'What is Netflix? What is streaming? Is it like TV but different?' That was the starting point (laughs)."

Horowitz then said that when Ryder did a podcast with him, afterwards she asked "Wait, was this a podcast? What did we just do?" Levy laughed and said, "I adore that woman." A bit later Levy added, "Yeah, Winona took a little onboarding to explain this emerging form of storytelling called Netflix and streaming."

Later in the interview, Levy was asked about the possibility of including some theatrical elements in the rollout for Season 5 and if he wants to have an episode or two on the big screen. Levy expanded on that idea though, revealing he would love to see all of season 5 on that screen.

"I would love to see, I mean honestly, I would love to see a whole screening series of Stranger Things in theaters, because the brothers are just magnificently cinematic filmmakers and the work that they're doing is clearly as ambitious and well crafted as any movie, and I would love to see us go out with the biggest bang possible. If the theatrical experience can be part of that, that would make me personally super happy," Levy said.

"This season is epic and broad in its cinematic scope, but it's very much Stranger Things," Levy said. "I have to credit the Duffers. They have always...you read the outline sometimes and it's just, it's massive, massive. But then you read the scripts, and you remember again and again and again that their instinct for anchoring the epic and the intimate, and for anchoring the darkness of the genre with the warmth of these characters, it's so innate to them."

"It is in my opinion one of their greatest superpowers, and as a result, season 5 like every season before gets bigger in scale, but doesn't forget who and what it is," Levy said.

Stranger Things season 5 currently doesn't have a release date, but we'll keep you posted when that changes. In the meantime, you can watch the previous seasons of Stranger Things on Netflix now.

Five Nights at Freddy's hit theaters this weekend, and despite also being available to watch on Peacock, the new horror movie is doing pretty well at the box office. According to Deadline, the movie opened to $130 million worldwide after showing in 64 international box office markets. The movie, which is only playing in theaters overseas, is expected to hit $52 million internationally through Sunday while its domestic total has reached $78 million.

Five Nights at Freddy's opening marks the biggest for a horror movie this year and the biggest worldwide debut ever for a Blumhouse film, topping Halloween's $91.8 million in 2018. It also marks the highest opening for a horror film in Chile, Peru, and Uruguay. The movie also had the best opening for a horror movie for Blumhouse in Germany, Brazil, Australia, Argentina, Netherlands, New Zealand, Bolivia, Chile, Central America, Colombia, Uruguay, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Finland, Sweden, and Norway. It was also the biggest opening for a horror film in 2023 in Mexico, Germany, Australia, Argentina, Netherlands, Ukraine, New Zealand, Chile, Uruguay, Ecuador, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Finland, Sweden, and Norway.

What Is Five Nights at Freddy's About?

You can read a description of the film here: "The story of Five Nights at Freddy's follows Mike, a troubled young man caring for his 10-year-old sister Abby and haunted by the unsolved disappearance of his younger brother more than a decade before. Recently fired and desperate for work so that he can keep custody of Abby, Mike agrees to take a position as a night security guard at an abandoned theme restaurant: Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. However, Mike soon discovers that nothing at Freddy's is what it seems. With the aid of Vanessa, a local police officer, Mike's nights at Freddy's will lead him into unexplainable encounters with the supernatural and drag him into the black heart of an unspeakable nightmare."

What Is Five Nights at Freddy's Rated?

Five Nights at Freddy's has been rated PG-13.

"We knew that some of the fan base would want an R-rated version of this film," director Emma Tammi recently told Forbes. "On the one level, we wanted to be inclusive of the younger audiences and knew we were going to hit the PG-13 rating, but for the audience that also wanted that level of violence, if you will, or at least insinuation of violence, we really wanted to still include elements that felt dark."

"Of course, there are a lot of dark elements to see in the lore, but in terms of some of the kills and everything, it was just all execution dependent. We really wanted to ensure that we were showing the right amount and doing creative things to insinuate what was happening or show what was happening without fully seeing it to still fit in that PG-13 category."

Five Nights at Freddy's is now playing in theaters and is available to stream on Peacock.