Slashdot reader storagedude writes: Ransomware groups have been busy improving their data exfiltration tools, and with good reason: As ransomware decryption fails to work most of the time, victims are more likely to pay a ransom to keep their stolen data from being publicly leaked.
But some security researchers think the trend suggests that ransomware groups may change their tactics entirely and abandon ransomware in favor of a combined approach of data destruction and exfiltration, stealing the data before destroying it and any backups, thus leaving the stolen copy of the data as the only hope for victims to recover their data. After all, if ransomware just destroys data anyway, why waste resources developing it?
"With data exfiltration now the norm among threat actors, developing stable, secure, and fast ransomware to encrypt files is a redundant and costly endeavor compared to corrupting files and using the exfiltrated copies as the means of data recovery," Cyderes researchers wrote after analyzing an attack last month.
"Eliminating the step of encrypting the data makes the process faster and eliminates the risk of not getting the full payout, or that the victim will find other ways to decrypt the data," they added. "Data destruction is rumored to be where ransomware is going to go, but we haven't actually seen it in the wild. During a recent incident response, however, Cyderes and Stairwell discovered signs that threat actors are actively in the process of staging and developing this capability." That incident – involving BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware – turned up an exfiltration tool with hardcoded sftp credentials that was analyzed by Stairwell's Threat Research Team, which found partially-implemented data destruction functionality. "The use of data destruction by affiliate-level actors in lieu of RaaS deployment would mark a large shift in the data extortion landscape and would signal the balkanization of financially-motivated intrusion actors currently working under the banners of RaaS affiliate programs," the Stairwell researchers wrote.
Acting 101: Bring yourself to the role. Rap legend Eminem did so while performing in his one and only starring role in the 2002 semiautobiographical drama "8 Mile." But the "Lose Yourself" rapper took it one step further and brought in the personal life of co-star Anthony Mackie in what is one of the most satisfying movie conclusions I ever saw.
In the film directed by the late Curtis Hanson, Eminem plays Jimmy Smith Jr., a.k.a B-Rabbit, a Detroit battle rapper with a serious case of stage fright. Right before his first battle, he pukes (there's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti). He then chokes onstage (he opens his mouth, but the words won't come out). His main tormentor is the Free World, a ruthless crew who appears to have a chokehold on the battle scene and the streets.
Led by the reigning, defending, undisputed champion, Papa Doc (Mackie), the Free World gets into several physical altercations with B-Rabbit's motley crew of friends. Wink, a mutual friend who plays to both sides, tries to keep the peace but ultimately crosses B-Rabbit and has sex with his new infatuation, Alex (played by the late Brittany Murphy). B-Rabbit catches them in the act and serves Wink a 3-piece combo with a side of biscuits.
Wink leads the Free World to B-Rabbit's trailer park home, and they stomp him out. Choosing words over violence for the first time in the movie, the rapper shows up to the next competition, overcomes his performance anxiety, and defeats members of the Free World until he meets Papa Doc in the final round. His verbal attacks onstage not only humiliate Papa Doc, they also hit home for the actor playing the character.
'You Went To Cranbrook ... That's A Private School!'
To get the crowd on your side in a battle rap, you need clever rhymes, creative punchlines, and showmanship. But the real oohs and aahs come from exposing embarrassing info about your opponent. In "8 Mile," Papa Doc jumps B-Rabbit, and learns that he both lost the woman he was falling in love with to a friend and lives with his mother in a trailer. No way Papa Doc loses this battle.
Well, B-Rabbit disses himself and reveals all this info first, leaving his opponent with no material. Then he exposes that Papa Doc is not the tough guy he portrays to be, that his real name is Clarence and he graduated from a prestigious private school called Cranbrook. He reveals that he lives in a two-parent home and that "Clarence parents have a real good marriage." B-Rabbit even confirms the wannabe gangster will go on to become Captain America ... just kidding.
These revelations leave Papa Doc -- or should I say Clarence -- so embarrassed and speechless that he forfeits the battle. This annihilation was a late addition made by Eminem. Anthony Mackie said during a 2021 episode of "The Rich Eisen Show" that the rapper asked him if could add some stuff to the script to make Papa Doc more unlikeable. Mackie explained what happened next:
"So before the entire '8 Mile' final battle, he googles me and learns about me and all that stuff. He basically makes fun of me as Papa Doc. [Laughs] And then I'm like, 'That's a little personal Mr. Marshall ... I grew up in a nice house, my parents were nice to me, why are you making fun of me?' He literally walked over and said, 'This gonna be dope.'"
Why Did Papa Doc Just Stand There?
Like Eminem, Anthony Mackie made his film debut in "8 Mile." I'm sure the last thing he expected to happen in his very first role was for the details of his personal life to be revealed on center stage. It could have been worse though. What if Eminem had gotten onstage and rapped, "This guy's a gangster? His real name Anthony!" Surely, Mackie couldn't have done anything; Eminem is one of the greatest battle rappers of all time. But why didn't Papa Doc respond? Why didn't the Free World, the bad boys of battle rap, jump on stage and give B-Rabbit another beating? I've watched battlers with bruised egos resort to violence after getting publicly humiliated like Papa Doc.
In a 2014 oral history of "8 Mile" in Grantland, Eminem said he wasn't sure if leaving Papa Doc completely motionless onstage was originally in the script. "But it worked. I had to leave him how he left Rabbit earlier in the movie," Em said. "And I think the plan was always at the end for me to start dissing myself. Because that's what I actually did in battles to try and take people's ammo away."
One correction: B-Rabbit doesn't battle Papa Doc earlier in the film. He battles a local rapper name Lil' Tic, who is unaffiliated with the Free World and portrayed by Eminem's real-life best friend and D-12 band member, the late DeShaun "Proof" Holton. With that said, Eminem is absolutely right: Leaving Papa Doc speechless was the right move. The audience -- from those watching from the crowd in the movie to those watching from behind the screen in real life -- sees the big bad villain stripped of all his glory and power as it gets transferred to B-Rabbit.
Twitter isn't about to rush into big content policy changes now that Elon Musk owns the company. Musk has announced that the social network will form a moderation council with members holding "widely diverse viewpoints." There won't be any "major" content decisions or ban reversals until that council meets, the entrepreneur says.
Musk hasn't named council members or provided a timeline for the council's creation. We've asked Twitter if it can comment on the strategy or provide additional details, and we'll let you know if we hear more.
The Tesla chief has vowed to make substantial changes to Twitter's moderation policy, such as relaxing the overall rules and limiting permanent bans on people like Donald Trump. However, the council plans suggest Musk could take some time to implement a new approach, and may delegate at least some of the responsibility. He recently tried to reassure advertisers that Twitter won't become a "free-for-all hellscape" where ads run alongside horrific posts.
Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.
No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.
This isn't to say Musk is avoiding all swift decisions. He has already fired multiple executives, including policy head Vijaya Gadde. Musk reportedly informed rank-and-file staff that he won't lay off as many people as feared, but he's still expected to cut jobs in relatively short order. Tesla engineers are believed to be helping with a code review that could lead to technical revisions.
If and when the council arrives, critics will be watching it closely. Conservatives have long accused Twitter of silencing right-wing viewpoints, and have gone so far as to enact state laws that force social networks to carry more content. Others, however, have rejected the claims and contended that strong moderation is necessary to prevent hate speech and misinformation from gaining traction. A moderation panel theoretically addresses both sides of the debate, but its effectiveness is far from established at this stage.
Matthew McConaughey's career has gone through some rather distinct stages. There were his early days in the '90s when he took on serious parts in films like "Contact" and "Amistad," which got his name out there in Hollywood. Then, in the 2000s, he was mostly associated with romantic comedies like "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" and "Failure to Launch," changing his image to more of a handsome leading man type. Fearing that his streak of rom coms was leading to him being typecast, McConaughey took a hiatus from acting from 2009 to 2011, returning once again to more serious dramatic roles in movies like "Magic Mike" and "The Lincoln Lawyer" before he hit acting gold, winning a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in "Dallas Buyer's Club" in 2013.
The shift of focus was dubbed "The McConaissance," and McConaughey's standing as a legitimate and desirable actor in Hollywood soared once again. But to this day, some remember him not for his serious performances or his rom-com tenure, but for his very first major film role, that of Wooderson in "Dazed and Confused."
A 20-something loser who mainly associates with high schoolers, Wooderson acts as both dark comic relief and a sort of warning of a potential future for the film's teenage protagonists. McConaughey manages to strike a good balance of absolutely creepy and charming despite himself, delivering disgusting lines about his preference for high school girls with the sort of empty coolness of a real-life predator.
"Dazed and Confused" is a classic in its own right, possessing both a sharp wit and a killer soundtrack, but according to a recent Independent piece, McConaughey's most iconic line of the movie was something he ad-libbed while filming.
Three Out Of Four
The story of McConaughey even being cast for "Dazed and Confused" lines up amusingly with his quaint and laid-back public persona. The story, as originally told in an oral history of the film by Texas Monthly, tells of McConaughey meeting one of the film's producers by chance in a bar. The two men drank and bonded, and the night ended with a slightly drunken offer to have McConaughey read for the part of Wooderson. The rest is history.
Despite McConaughey getting the part through a combination of charm and luck, he was a bit of an unknown at the time, even as he played one of the oldest characters in a film full of high schoolers. In his McConaughey way, though, he managed to leave his mark on the movie by improvising one of its best lines.
McConaughey's thought process in uttering the trio of alrights was explained in the Independent piece:
"So I'm thinking, 'Who is Wooderson? Who is my man? You know, what's he about?' And I tell myself, 'Wooderson's about four things: he's about cars, weed, rock 'n' roll, and chicks.' I look around, where I am, well I'm in my 70's [sic] Chevelle. That's one. I've got Slater riding shotgun, so I'm definitely getting high, that's two. And we've got Ted Nugent playing Stranglehold on the eight-track, well that's three. At this point I hear over the intercom, 'Action!' And I look up across the drive-through at this red headed intellectual and I say to myself, 'Buddy, you got three out of four. Alright, alright, alright!'"
This simple train of thought birthed a line that will continue to be repeated at McConaughey until he dies, and that's a bit terrifying.
There have been few more versatile comedic weapons in history than Chris Farley. During his heyday in the '90s, Farley was probably the funniest man on the planet. During his time on "Saturday Night Live," he was the clear standout of the cast, the guy they'd send out to ensure laughter. He was that good.
If you were the director of a comedy in 1995, there's no star you'd rather have in your film than Farley. Maybe Jim Carrey. But for Peter Segal, the director of "Tommy Boy," there was no one better than Farley for the job. But Farley also got plenty of help from his good friend David Spade, and Segal knew that they had some expert comedic minds to lean on to fill in the gaps in the script, and that's just what they did.
According to Deadline, one of the movie's funniest bits, Farley's "fat guy in a little coat" routine, was pulled directly from a running joke Farley did during his days on "SNL."
Gotta Fill Time
Starting out with a script that was only 66 pages long and in pretty rough shape, Segal knew they would have to scrounge for material to fill up the movie's runtime, according to a FanSided interview from 2020.
"Fred [Wolf] and I were desperate for material on this, once we knew what the basic vision of the story was going to be. We said, okay, we know the beginning, the middle, we don't really know the end but let's just start coming up with ideas about the road trip. And we just started putting our own experiences into it."
Luckily for them, they also had the comedic input of Chris Farley and David Spade. Despite their constant fighting, they were able to provide some of the film's funniest moments. For Farley's part, one of the film's most quoted lines came from something he did when he was bored at "SNL." According to the Deadline piece:
"Fat guy in a little coat was something Chris would do in the 'SNL' offices, but he never sang it. Just said it to annoy people. 'SNL' at that time had one of its greatest casts, with Mike Myers, [Adam] Sandler, Farley, Spade and Chris Rock. And they all felt Farley was the funniest of all of them. But when we shot it, Chris wasn't used to movie filming, where you had to aim the character this way, then turned it around and aimed it at the other person. He got a little bored when the camera turned onto Spade, and he started goofing around off-camera. He sang the lyrics to the song, and I was focused on Dave and didn't notice. Then my editor, Bill Kerr, said, 'Did you hear Chris off-camera, singing? Hilarious. Go back and reshoot it.'"
Entering The Zeitgeist
It was a simple solution. You need another joke for your movie? Repurpose and enhance a bit that Farley used to make a room full of some of the funniest comedians in the world (and Rob Schneider) laugh behind the scenes. "Fat guy in a little coat" specifically was a hit, making a bigger cultural impact than you'd think a silly little gag like that would, according to Segal in the Deadline piece.
"A friend of mine from high school became a Top Gun pilot. He told me, you know, that's what all the Top Gun pilots sang as we got in our flight suits. Fat guy in a little coat. It stuck in the zeitgeist."
In general, "Tommy Boy" was a huge hit, landing among Paramount Pictures' best-selling movies of all-time on home video. It's easily the best of Chris Farley's movies, and along with his time on "SNL," has kept his legacy in comedy alive long after his passing. Farley's death was not only a tragedy in terms of losing a guy that everyone seemed to like but also in losing a man who could have gone on to be an even greater comedian and star. The guy was just getting started in movies, even being pegged to be the voice of Shrek before his death, and one can only imagine what he could have done if he had more time. For now, we have "Tommy Boy," and we can enjoy what Farley was able to give us.
In between pandemic musical sessions with his goats, Kevin Bacon seems to have figured out the world. From admitting to having skin too thin to read social media comments to reflecting on how volatile Hollywood can be, a revealing 2021 interview with Esquire shows that he's also learned a lot about himself and life.
So, when he admits that there's only one film role he cares to revisit in the dozens of movies he's appeared in since his 1978 debut in "Animal House," we should pay attention. Bacon has walked a fine line between leading man and this generation's greatest character actor, playing everything from the provocative new kid in town in "Footloose" to a tortured and menacing child molester in "The Woodsman."
Bacon says he prefers to move on to the next role once a project is done, although there is one film that might be worth revisiting. One might say that there is a role out there that still has a little meat –- or bacon –- left on the bone.
'Tremors' Is His Only Film He's Rewatched
When Kevin Bacon says he moves on from past roles, he means it. "I don't look back at all," the actor confessed to Esquire. "In fact, 'Tremors' is the only movie of mine that I have rewatched since it has come out." Which is kind of odd, given the film's history.
When the throwback monster movie "Tremors" was released in 1990, it was both a critical and financial failure. Universal barely recouped its budget, and the movie was swallowed whole by critics. The New York Times called it a "jokey attempt to re-create the pleasures of those post-World War II B-pictures about commonplace creatures" with special effects that looked purposely bad. Variety expounded that "the heroes carry on like Curly and Larry in search of Moe."
Bacon even admitted that he took the role out of desperation, thinking he was above the concept of underground monsters a.k.a. Graboids.
But then, a funny thing happened on the way out of Perfection, Nevada. Though the Graboids might have been dead, "Tremors" found a cult following thanks to VHS rentals and cable television. It was enough to convince Universal to turn the movie into a straight-to-video series, which Bacon declined. Even without its star, the original film spawned six sequels, each one arguably progressively worse, as well as a short-lived Syfy television series in 2003.
It begs the question: why is "Tremors" the only of his own films Bacon is willing to re-watch, and will he ever return to Perfection?
A TV Pilot Starring Kevin Bacon Exists
When Universal first approached Bacon about re-joining the franchise, he questioned their motives. "Well, why are you making a sequel of a movie that I was in that bombed?" Bacon asked the studio. Knowing what direct-to-video meant to his career, he wisely walked away from the offer. But time is a funny thing, and it turns out that Bacon had some interest all this time. More than two decades after the original film, Bacon almost returned to the franchise. The actor said:
"We were around the 25-year anniversary. I went to Blumhouse, and they were totally into the idea. Universal didn't want to remake it as a feature and also maybe because it didn't work as a feature the first time. So we put it aside. Then they came back to me and said, 'What would you think about doing it as a series?'"
And a TV series almost happened. Actually, it did happen ... kind of. In 2015 Bacon signed on to star and serve as executive producer of a "Tremors" TV series. Syfy picked up the series and a pilot episode was even filmed. But TV Line reported that the project was inexplicably shelved in 2017. It's a shame too, because the pilot, which revisits Perfection 25 years later, looked promising.
So, what does the future hold for "Tremors" and Kevin Bacon? It sounds like we haven't seen the last of Val McKee or the Graboids. "I would still love to do it, believe me," Bacon said with resolve. "Maybe it needs to be the 30th anniversary or the 35th. We'll keep going."
When "Run Sweetheart Run" premiered at 2020's Sundance Film Festival, it made a splash for its terrifying and unique take on post-#MeToo America. Not only was it a scathing look at how dangerously misogyny can be wielded by abusive men, but despite the high-level concept, it felt deeply personal. That was intentional, as co-writer and director Shana Feste revealed in 2020 that the film was partially based on her own experience with assault.
So how does a director turn a traumatic event into a high-speed popcorn flick? We sat down with Feste for a candid and enlightening interview about the real-world horrors of "Run Sweetheart Run" and how making the film was a cathartic and exhilarating experience.
'I'm Glad It's Turned Into Something That Is Really Fun And Enjoyable And Wild'
You've previously talked about how personal this movie is for you and how it was partially inspired by your own experience. I just want to say that I hope you're in a much better place now with that.
Thank you for saying that, and yes, I am. I think you definitely need some distance before you can really tackle some of the themes that I did in this film as a survivor. But yeah, it is also incredibly cathartic to be able to write about it from a place where I knew I was okay and to actually turn it into something very popcorn and thrilling and a fun ride. One of the oddest comments that I get is, "Oh my God, the film was so much fun." And you're thinking, "Wow, the origin was so not fun," but I'm glad it's turned into something that is really fun and enjoyable and wild.
'Society Is Telling Us Not To Trust Our Own Instincts As Women'
Something else that I thought was really interesting in this movie is the idea of the safe space as a weapon, as demonstrated in a key scene between Cherie (Ella Balinska) and her boss, James (Clark Gregg). Why do you think this was important for that to be in the film, and what does its inclusion say?
I think for women, I think that fear is so real and we're so used to being gaslit or not believed or said that we're hysterical. So many of those everyday experiences, whether you're walking home alone and you feel a guy walking by you and you're like, "I shouldn't be rude and cross the street, but I'm genuinely scared, so what should I do?" That constant feeling of, "Everybody's telling me that I'm absolutely fine, but I don't feel fine, and I need to listen to that because I really feel scared."
Literally, society is telling us not to trust our own instincts as women -- that we are fine or we're making a bigger deal out of it, or "Oh, he's hitting you because he has a crush on you" when you're little. "He actually just likes you." All these things to actually belittle the way that we are actually feeling. I think that's one of the most terrifying feelings, is when you think you're in a safe space and it turns out that you're not.
After my attack, I went to the police and I basically had fought for myself. I fought my attacker off successfully and I was not raped, but they let him out two hours later. He was my neighbor, and I looked at him and I said, "How is he out right now?" And they said, "Well, he didn't rape you." And I said, "But that was his intent, to rape me." And they said, "Well, he didn't, though, so we couldn't hold him that long. He got out on bail." And I'm thinking, the law, even in the safest places by police, I still was scared. Because I was like, "There are laws in place where even you can't protect me."
'What Do We Have To Do To Get People To Change?'
I feel like that's a major thing in the film and a very poignant comment on how abuse like this is normalized. They say that the law is going to take care of it, but is it really?
I mean, you would get more time served on a drug charge than if you attack a woman. That's incredibly frightening. The police took three hours to come after I called 911. When I screaming on the street, so many people turned away from me, and I know there's a bystander effect. I know that's real, because I lived through it and experienced it, and so many people turn away from Cherie after she's victimized.
Even with all the different elements at play, I feel like that was one of the scarier parts of the film.
It's such a common experience for women, and a lot of people have said, "Oh, well, that's too obvious." Or "it's too loud." Or "it's too in your face."
What do we have to do to get people to change? Because we can't whisper. We can't say it politely. We can't say, "Excuse me, this is happening." Nothing is working. We have to yell at this point. We have to scream, right? I have to make as bold and operatic film as possible to feel like I'm actually being heard. And even now, I'm sure some people will still dismiss the film and be like, "Oh, that was crazy. That was an alternate reality she created, or "She took an easy shot." I'm sure I'll get some of that as well.
'I Thought Of All The John Carpenter Horror Films'
Were there any movies in particular that you felt inspired by when creating this hyper-stylized world?
Yeah. I mean, I think I've obviously thought of "Run Lola Run" a ton. I'm a kid of the '80s, so I thought of all the John Carpenter horror films. I think that really influenced our score by ROB. It was an '80s theme score. The color palette was also really extreme, and the color palette in itself has meaning to me. That was how I could really tell the theme as clearly as possible, with Cherie more surrounded in circles and Ethan with more squares and rectangular shape. Ethan was green and Cherie was pink and reclaiming the red color.
There's some magical realism even in the color palette of the film. When Cherie walks into a church in the film, she thinks it's a safe space. There's red lights and it's all shining down on her, and then as soon as Ethan enters and the camera kind of turns upside down, the lights change to green, which happens a ton of times in the film. I don't know if anybody notices it or feels it, but I wanted it to contribute to this feeling of just constantly being unsettled by his presence.
I noticed the lighting but I didn't necessarily notice the shapes. That was something that just clicked in me like, "Yeah, you're right. There were a lot of squares and angles around Ethan. That were interesting."
And Shohreh [Aghdashloo's character, her haven, is all circles. And in Cherie's place at the beginning of the film, her apartment, is all circles. So her safe spaces were really that shape. Then, obviously, places like the jail that ends up turning on her are incredibly linear and boxed in.
And cramped, as well.
Yes, with a lot of flat space.
I feel like the use of space in this film is interesting, especially when you get to a pivotal character's headquarters. That is very open, like Cherie could really move around in it. Whereas other parts of the film, like the restaurant or the alleyways or the cars, they're all very closed in.
They're boxing her in, especially in the beginning, on her first date. And in the HR office, it's all very flat space, dead-on rectangular shots. Yes, and [that character's] space is almost all red and Cherie can move and finally breathe, hopefully allowing the audience to breathe as well.
"Run Sweetheart Run" is now streaming on Prime Video.
If you or a loved one have experienced domestic and/or sexual assault, help is available. Visit the websites for theNational Domestic Violence Hotlineand/orRAINNfor additional resources.
Have you ever wanted to visit the "Silver Tuna" house from "Home Alone" when the holidays roll around? What about stalking the house of babysitter Laurie Strode from the "Halloween" franchise? Maybe you've felt bold enough to check out the house of Buffalo Bill from "The Silence of the Lambs." Soon, you'll be able to check out some of the most memorable houses from film and television, thanks to a new documentary from "I Love You, You Hate Me" director Tommy Avallone.
"The House From..." is an upcoming documentary that's looking to complete post-production by way of a Kickstarter. If you've ever wanted your name in the credits of a movie as a producer, here's your chance. Tommy Avallone recently sat down to chat with us about traveling across the country to see houses from movies like "The Goonies," "The Twilight Saga," "Pee-wee's Big Adventure," "Home Alone," "Full House," and many more. Plus, he reveals some surprising facts about the house from "Can't Hardly Wait," which you've also seen in a bunch of other movies and TV shows.
'What Is It Like To Live In A Famous House?'
This is a really fun idea. How long has this been percolating for you? What was the inception for this film?
I can't talk about the inception without completely name-dropping, so bear with me. I've always had this idea. I live in New Jersey now, but I was living in Los Angeles [at the time], and when I worked in Philadelphia, I would walk by the Liberty Bell and Ben Franklin's grave. I couldn't care less about the history there. But when I moved to California, I'm like, "I live near 'The Wonder Years' house?" That was so much fun. And I always thought, "What is it like to live in a famous house?"
So the only Hollywood party I think I ever went to, I was with John Stamos. John and me were introduced prior. We were just talking, and he's like, "Jeff Franklin's here. You want me to introduce you to him?" I was like, "Yes, please." He created "Full House," and I knew at the time he owned the "Full House" house. So I was like, "I want to do this documentary about people who live in famous houses. You own the 'Full House' house. What do you think?" We had lunch at his house that he lives in, which is oddly enough, the [site of the Charles] Manson murder house. He knocked that down and built his own mansion. It's crazy driving up Cielo Drive. It was at the time when "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood..." just came out. So it was really weird, but he thought it was a cool idea.
Anyway, he's like, "Meet me in San Francisco." We filmed him giving the tour, talking about "Full House," seeing what the house really looks like, because it's completely different. Just the way that hallway was upstairs, where there was Jesse's room on one side and Stephanie's room on the other, that wouldn't work. It would just be hanging up. It's just not the way it's built. So it was super cool. We took that tape, and we tried to pitch it as a TV show. Every week we'd go to a different house or two, talk to fans, talk to people who made it famous, talk to people who lived there. And everyone's like, "No, thank you. Where's the stakes? Where's the drama?"
That blows my mind. I don't even know why you need stakes or drama in a show like that. It's basically just a cool movie version of "Cribs," especially if you can get the people who are in these movies to visit. Like, in the Kickstarter video (above), you have Ethan Embry relive that moment from "Can't Hardly Wait." If you can do that with other actors, that would be so much fun.
Oh my God, let me tell you, having Ethan go to the "Can't Hardly Wait" house and say, "Amanda..." The best thing that's ever happened in my whole entire life. But no, that was the thing, I guess the streamers, they want something that's crazy toned ... and it's not a crazy idea. It's just a fun watch.
Yeah, exactly.
No one's died in any of these houses. There's no true crime in any of these houses. There's not like, the "Wonder Years" house isn't fighting with the "Boy Meets World" house. That's not happening. So we're like, "Forget it. Let's just do it ourselves."
We start filming all these different houses, and then I sold the "Barney" project, and I had to stop just to focus on that. Once that was wrapped, I went right back into it, and we're like, "You know what? We should just release this ourselves. We know what we're doing with this. Why go to a distribution company that's not going to give you any money and not do any [publicity]?" So it just didn't make sense. I've had movies put out by distribution people, and I've seen the progress drop with each movie, not with anything to do with us, but just the way distribution people were handling independent filmmakers. So we're like, "Yeah, we can do [it] ourselves."
'I Think People Are Going To Love Ethan Embry Coming Back To The 'Can't Hardly Wait' House'
So how long have you been shooting?
Well, I would've been at "Full House" in 2019. Then we didn't do anything for a while, because we were pitching in a pandemic, and then we picked up, I want to say later in 2020. We filmed the "Halloween" house, "Pee-wee's Big Adventure," all that sort of stuff.
Speaking of the pandemic, did that make it easier or harder to get the subjects involved for the document? Because I could see it going either way.
We were nervous. The vaccines weren't even a thing at the time we were filming. So we understood if people didn't want us to come into their house. Some people wanted to wait until things were better, and sometimes we did. But some of the houses, "Pee-wee" or the Strode house from "Halloween," we did film outside. Some people were totally cool with it and we all wore a mask, except for the subjects. I would write letters to some of these people, because these houses, yes, they're famous, but they don't have a [public relations] manager or agent. So I have this one system where I can find people's information, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But sometimes I just wrote letters.
The "Can't Hardly Wait" house, I wrote [the owner] a letter, and she got back to me and we filmed it. But it's funny, because to me it was the "Can't Hardly Wait" house, but to her, it was the inside of "American Pie." That house has been in so many different movies and TV shows. Yes, it's the outside of "Can't Hardly Wait," but it's the inside of "American Pie." For "American Pie 2," she showed me where Stifler got peed on. The kitchen was in "Cheaper by the Dozen." "This Is Us" filmed there. Tim Allen filmed there. Lindsay Lohan did a thing. "Ghost Whisperer," "NCIS," "Criminal Minds," "It's Always Sunny [in Philadelphia"] was there. You saw the outside from "Always Sunny." So many things. The owner, Liz, walks us through and shows us where all these different shows filmed. It's really, really cool.
So how many houses do you have in the film?
Well, we're wrapping up now, and I feel like there's a good 20 houses right now. We'll probably get a couple more. We were just filming in Albuquerque and Tulsa, and I'm going to go back to Chicago soon. So we're more or less wrapping up. I'd say right now it's about 20 houses.
What's the segment from the film you feel like that people are going to respond to the most?
I don't know. It depends on where you're coming from. Sometimes it's just cool to see the inside of the "Full House" house. Sometimes it's just cool to see what the inside of this house really looks like. Sometimes it's cool to hear some of the stories. To me, personally, I think people are going to love Ethan Embry coming back to the "Can't Hardly Wait" house, and just reliving some of the scenes and talking about that movie.
'Yeah, To So Many People, It's Pee-Wee. But I Grew Up Here'
This feels like something that lends itself to several movies with even more houses getting the spotlight. Is that something that you would like to do?
If we did a series, that would totally make sense, and it could be repeatable, there's a way we could branch it off. Who knows? If this goes well, you could do that. I'm not holding onto hope for that sort of thing. But with this documentary, just focusing on the movies that we have or the shows we have, we can talk about a couple different things, like this idea of worship. Instead of worshiping the cross, you're worshiping the "Family Matters" house or the "Friday" house or the "Full House" house. It's this idea of an image that makes you feel good. We were at site of the "Mrs. Doubtfire" house and I talked to this one guy, and he's like, "I'm a child of divorce. This movie really spoke to me." So it's weird how we connect these things and remind us of that sort of safe feeling.
Then there's also the ownership. Here is a house, to millions of people, it's the "Full House" house, but to one family it's home. There's this really interesting sort of shared ownership. I think it's in our Kickstarter video, where the owner of the Pee-wee Herman house, he's like, "Yeah, to so many people, it's Pee-wee. But I grew up here." What's it like to share? Remember all the water and all those things in the front lawn? It's like, "No, I remember Thanksgiving, I remember Christmas. I remember waking up here every day."
Were there any people who didn't really want to talk about the house or maybe just didn't want the house to be highlighted any more than it already is, because they get so many people and it's turned into a nuisance for them? I know there's that woman who was upset about the "Breaking Bad" house having pizzas thrown on the roof.
We have images of what it looks like inside "The Goonies" house. Currently, she doesn't want to speak to us. She's an awesome lady, but she doesn't want to do any interviews, because it's really interesting how the press has changed things with her. Well, I shouldn't say the press, but online culture has really turned it into a mythical thing, where the Internet's like, "Did you see the 'Goonies' person put a tarp over their house, so that no one could see the house?" And it's like, "No, she was just getting a roof done, and that's what you do. You put a tarp over your house." Or there was an article recently, it's like, "'The Goonies' house is back open." I spoke to her and she's like, "It's not back open. It was never closed. It's not a store."
So it's really crazy how people take these sort of things. And the "Breaking Bad" people, from Walter White's house, they didn't talk to us, but enough archival footages exists from different news stories. But we did talk to the old owner of Jesse's mansion, and she spoke about just filming there. It's funny, I just started watching "Breaking Bad," so please don't tell me any spoilers ... she was saying she wanted to sell her house towards the end of season 1. And [creator] Vince Gilligan had to change that in a script, because they weren't confident that the new owners would let them film at that house. So the reason Jesse gets kicked out and gets an apartment is because this woman wanted to sell her house.
That's crazy.
Yeah.
Were there any houses that you wanted to feature in the movie that you just couldn't make work for one reason or another?
I wanted to get inside that "Boy Meets World" house. They never got back to me. Not even a "No." As weird as that sounds, that and "Wonder Years" -- something about the Savages. But yeah, we are not finished yet. So there's always hope. That's definitely the house I would love to have done.
'We're Going To Have A Limited Time DVD'
Once I heard this idea, it just sounded cool, because I'm kind of similar to you, too. Whenever I spend some time in Los Angeles, I try to do as many things as I can. The last time I was there, I realized that there were some movie houses from stuff that I love that were really close together. So I did a quick run through of going to Michael Myers' "Halloween" house, Doc's house from "Back to the Future," and then the "Father of the Bride" house.
So much is in South Pasadena. In fact, there's a street in South Pasadena named Bushnell Street. The way it's set up, it's like it's Biff's house from "Back to the Future." And if you remember, in "Back to the Future Part II," when Biff kicks the ball on the roof, that's Luke Wilson's house from "Old School."
Oh wow. As soon as you said that, I pictured the frat house and I can immediately envision that as Biff's neighbor's house.
Then, right next door, is Lorraine's house from "Back to the Future," and it's also the same house as Michael J. Fox's house from "Teen Wolf."
Wow, that's crazy.
Then further down the street is George McFly's house from "Back to the Future." Even further down the street is the house from "Ghost Dad," and across the street, if you remember the show "Thirtysomething," that was on the same block. All these houses in one block, one small block in South Pasadena. It's crazy.
That's awesome. So the plan is to release the movie at a festival. Do you know a specific festival where it's going to premiere yet? Or are you still trying to figure that out?
Right now, we're working towards this one festival, but it's all about if I could finish it in time. Doing the Kickstarter and promoting Barney, it's just a lot of work. So it all depends on that sort of stuff. But once we premiere at a festival, we'll release the next day. It'll be on iTunes Vudu, Amazon Prime, and Google Play. We're just going to release it ourselves. Then also with the Kickstarter, we're going to have a limited time DVD. The only place to get this DVD is on our Kickstarter.
I think we covered all the good stuff, and I'm excited to see this movie. I can't wait to check it out.
This article contains major spoilers for "Terrifier 2.""Terrifier 2" is crushing it at the box office. As of this writing, the old-school slasher has snagged $5.25 million in receipts and continues to spread its mayhem by word of mouth. On a $250,000 budget, that's a whole lot of cheddar. While many casual horror fans have reportedly thrown up or left the theater mid-way through, others are praising it for its gnarly practical effects and gruesome violence. It's certainly polarizing, to say the least. Either way, Art the Clown has officially become a horror icon.
Throughout the film's epic runtime, Art the Clown wreaks absolute havoc and leaves a bloody trail of bodies in his wake. Sienna (Lauren LaVera) and her brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) are faced with not only the aftermath of their father's death but a seemingly immortal serial killer. Together, their bonds of love are put to the ultimate test. Their survival depends on them facing their demons, once and for all.
"Terrifier 2" hits streaming this Halloween, exclusively on Screambox. We decided to celebrate by compiling the film's most brutal (and probably most nauseating) moments. From literal face-peeling sequences to an incredibly uncomfortable whipping scene, Art the Clown doesn't hold back. So, grab a trashcan, pull up a seat, and get ready to puke.
Whipped
Art (David Howard Thornton) puts Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) through the wringer. In the film's epic conclusion, Art initially only slashes Jonathan with a scalpel, leaving shallow cuts on his face and back. Art then goes full "ham" and pulls out a length of chain from his garbage bag. He whips it above his head and starts to savagely beat Jonathan.
It's almost Biblical — representative of when Jesus was flogged by the Romans before his crucifixion. Jonathan falls to the floor and begins crawling away, but Art continues to strike the young boy with the metal links Sienna (Lauren LaVera) soon arrives and shields her brother from any more torture, the chain tearing her own flesh.
The scene is graphic and truly uncomfortable to watch. For a film with nauseating gore and grisly violence, this moment demonstrates Sienna's unconditional love for Jonathan. Their bonds run far deeper than blood. They ride or die until the very end.
Eye See You
The film picks up where the original left off. Art the Clown has risen from the dead and wreaks havoc on the coroner's office. The opening scene is certainly not for the faint of heart. After bludgeoning the coroner (Cory DuVal) with a small medical tool, Art plucks out the man's eyeball and inserts it into his own head, replacing the one he lost at the original film's climax.
Art proceeds to hammer the coroner's body and skull. The coroner becomes literal minced meat, and Art doesn't stop there. He pulverizes his victim until the skull cracks, and he pulls the two halves apart. A brain throbs inside, and Art removes it and holds it up to the light. Much like Michael Myers, Art likes to behold his twisted creations and bask in the brutality.
The moment sets the tone for what the audience can expect from the film. Even so, no one could possibly be ready for what's coming next.
Just A Fever Dream
Early in the film, Sienna experiences a disturbing dream involving a roadside concession called the Clown Cafe. Art the Clown makes a grand entrance and gives all the boys and girls special gifts. He then hands Sienna a present wrapped in newspaper. Inside, there's a pulsing heart nestled in a bed of gooey blood and wriggling worms. It's as disgusting as it sounds.
Art rummages in his garbage bag and pulls out a machine gun. He lays waste to all the schoolyard kids, blasting their bodies full of holes. Blood spurts all over the playground equipment and across Sienna's face. A young boy is then found killed by razor blades in his Art Crispies cereal. Sienna shoves her hand in the cereal box and pulls out her father's ancient sword to block Art's attempts to light her on fire. The all-consuming blaze around her seeps out of her dreams and into the real world. She awakens with a start to find her room engulfed in flames.
Even in the dream world, Art has a way of terrifying you and inflicting pain (well, sort of). He's playfully sadistic and always inventive with his kills. That's for sure! Freddy Krueger would be proud.
Banana Peel
One of the most gruesome moments centers on Sienna's friend Allie (Casey Hartnett). After stalking her home, Art brutally attacks the young girl by first slicing her face and then taking a pair of scissors to her scalp. He rips off the skin and the hair and flings it at the wall. He begins slicing and dicing up her back and slowly peels the skin from her bones. Her screams are chilling.
He continues peeling her like a banana until no skin remains on her body. Leaving her to crawl across the floor, Art retrieves a bottle of bleach and some salt. He moves in and pours both in generous amounts over her bloody, mutilated body. When her mother returns home sometime later, Allie is somehow still alive. In her bedroom, Art has drenched the room in blood and laughs upon seeing her mother's reaction. Deranged doesn't begin to describe the moment.
Abracadabra
During a trip to the costume shop Abracadabra to pick up a pair of angel wings, Sienna encounters Art the Clown. She initially believes him to be the Miles County killer, but later suggests to her brother that it was just some freak trying to scare her. Her first instinct was correct.
After she leaves the shop, Art buys a trumpet-style bicycle horn and rummages through his garbage bag for cash. He picks through his belongings, removing various items like a meat cleaver, a beer bottle, and a hacksaw. The costume shop owner (Johnath Davis) is having none of it. Art eventually picks out the correct money, but things quickly change when the owner threatens to call the cops.
Art grabs the beer bottle off the counter and slams it into his head. He then picks up the meat cleaver and starts chopping away at the man's skull and neck, eventually severing his head completely. Moments later, Art poses with the head in the shop window, and passersby believe it to be part of the decorations. At least Art has a certain style with his kills — as macabre as they may be.
Shot To The Head
Barbara (Sarah Voigt) is a textbook stressed-out single parent. She means well, but her frequent emotional outbursts suggest she still hasn't recovered from her late husband's suicide. She's doing her best to parent Sienna and Jonathan, though. She loves and adores them, and that's what matters most. That makes her death scene one of the most brutal and unexpected in the film.
Following an argument with Jonathan, who dashes away into the night, Barbara discovers that her car is covered in shaving cream and toilet paper. The word "b***h" is also written on the windshield. Needless to say, she's not too happy and calls Sienna to express her frustrations.
While Barbara is cleaning up the driver's side window, Art surprises her with those beady, piercing eyes of his. He whips out a sawed-off shotgun and pulls the trigger. Barbara's head explodes, and her scalp flies in the air and slaps against the wall. When you're done picking your jaw off the floor, you may be a little nauseated.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988 or by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Stabbed
When Sienna freaks out at the party, Brooke (Kailey Hyman) and her boyfriend, Jeff (Charlie McElveen), decide to leave and give Sienna a ride home. Brooke is more than a little concerned about her best friend but also expresses her annoyance over what happened. For the time being, it's best that both sleep off their molly-induced high and deal with it in the morning.
Meanwhile, Art has taken Jonathan hostage after injecting him with a sedative and is on his way to the now-abandoned carnival. His hallucination, in the form of the Little Pale Girl (Amelie McLain), calls up Sienna and pretends to speak as Jonathan, luring her to the carnival. Once there, Brooke and Jeff stay behind to wait. In the middle of their make-out session, Jeff takes a bathroom break behind the car. And he gets the fright of his life.
Art pops out of nowhere and stabs Jeff in the groin — over and over and over again. It's as explicit as you might expect, but it still might make you squeamish. Jeff's screams fill the night air. It's what the most twisted nightmares are truly made of.
Face Melt
Immediately after Jeff's death, Brooke runs for her life into the carnival. There's no other place to go. They are in the middle of nowhere after all. She screams for Sienna and then takes refuge in a blood-caked bathroom. Now, there is absolutely no escape.
Brooke clutches a random two-by-four to ward off Art, and it's a failed effort. Art raises his makeshift morning star (a club with spikes), but he doesn't swing. Behind his back, he holds a jar of acid and flings its contents into her face. Her skin pops and bubbles and slips from her skull. That's when Art begins swinging his bludgeon at her back, knocking her to the ground. Blood spews on the bathroom walls.
Art continues to cruelly tear Brooke apart. He cracks open her chest and removes her heart. In a move we should have seen coming, he takes a big ol' bite out of the fleshy organ. Even monsters have to eat!
Sienna's Revenge
Sienna earns her place in the pantheon of final girls in the third act. She's been beaten, thrown around, kicked, and ruthlessly whipped. She somehow gathers up what strength she has left and wields a primal rage to get oh-so-sweet revenge. After bludgeoning Art's skull with a metal rod doesn't work, Sienna seizes her father's sword. She's ready and more than capable to do the deed.
She slices into Art's neck. Blood cascades down his clown outfit. He then hilariously stretches out his neck for her to chop. She takes a swing — and then another and another and another. In line with what Sidney Prescott or Erin (from "You're Next") would do, she needs to make sure he's unmistakably dead. She cuts even deeper until his head is completely severed from his body. It's a triumphant moment but brutal nonetheless. Her facial expression says it all: "I am woman, hear me roar!"
In show business, sometimes Hollywood giveth, and Hollywood taketh away. All Bible quotes aside, the idiom almost applied to the 1995 comedy "Tommy Boy." After having them on "Saturday Night Live" together, executive producer Lorne Michaels recognized the chemistry between best friends Chris Farley and David Spade and pitched the idea for a movie featuring the two comedians.
The original draft of "Tommy Boy" focused more on the relationship between Tommy (Farley) and his stepbrother Paul (Rob Lowe). But the concept wasn't working for director Peter Segal. "I felt that was the B story," Segal told Deadline on the film's 25th anniversary. "The A story was these two guys who didn't get along, forced to work together to save this company, and the town."
That required a comprehensive rewrite of the script. There was just one problem: Farley and Spade were due back in New York for the new season of "Saturday Night Live." Even though Farley and Spade's fame from "SNL" led to the movie, it now threatened to sabotage the project. With a tight production schedule and tensions running high between the co-stars, the crew was up against the clock to finish the film.
The Director Thought The Film Would Tank
According to Film School Rejects, "Tommy Boy" was slated to film during the summer hiatus of "SNL." But when Peter Segal and "SNL" writer Fred Wolf re-wrote the script with more of a focus on Farley and Spade, it pushed the production past summer and well into the "Saturday Night Live" season.
Without a finished script and the stars of the movie back in New York, it looked like "Tommy Boy" would be scrapped. Segal remembered:
"At one point, even I thought it got so out of control, the fact that Fred [Wolf] had to go back to SNL and the script really wasn't there, that I didn't think the movie would be possible. So, I even tried to leave. I tried to quit the movie. And you know, I was threatened with a lawsuit, so I had to stay."
To make both productions work, Farley and Spade had to fly between New York and Toronto every few days. They were figuratively, and literally, flying by the seats of their pants with a partially finished script and two production schedules. "We all thought it was gonna tank," Segal admitted. "We thought this movie was barely gonna get there because literally we had no script and we were making it up."
To the credit of Farley and Spade's friendship and on-screen chemistry, not only did the film make it, but it became one of Paramount's top-selling VHS titles of all time.
Much Of The Movie Was Made Up On The Fly
Peter Segal had a vision of a buddy road trip film and boldly threw out all but 66 pages of the original script. During the downtime with Farley and Spade away shooting "SNL," he and Wolf worked fervently to bring the concept to fruition. Segal recalled:
"The first thing I said was, 'Well the other day I was trying to get gas at my local gas station, and I parked a little too far away from the pump, so I backed my car up and I hyperextended my door. Ok, that's one little piece, let's write that down.' And [Wolf] said, 'Well one time I, you know, put some oil in the car and I forgot to take the can out and the hood flew up in my face on the freeway.' And it went from there."
The scenes are priceless, with Spade as the straight man and Farley as the goof. The eleventh-hour additions also created plenty of memorable one-liners. To this day, I still shout out, "What'd you do!?" whenever I accidentally break something, especially when trying to blame it on someone else. Sue me, I learned it from Farley.
It wasn't just the writers contributing to the film. On a 2013 appearance on "The Howard Stern Show," Spade discussed how his friendship with Farley bled into the film organically.
Thanks to Segal's vision and Farley and Spade's friendship, "Tommy Boy" is arguably the best of a string of mid-1990s SNL-inspired films. And, holy schnikes, would you believe there's an entire musical album dedicated to the movie? In 2018 musician Dave Paulson released a nine-track rock tribute to the film, titled "Sandusky, Ohio." Have a listen and trust me, it will make you feel all warm and toasty inside.
This post containsspoilersfor "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power."
The incredible, bombastic season finale of "The Rings of Power," which aired a few weeks back, has left a Middle-earth-shaped void in the hearts of fans. Due to the compelling nature of the episode's reveals, and a culmination of everything the show has been building up to, folks (that would be me) are excited to see more of the sprawling saga. Moreover, a lot of questions remain unanswered. Now that the Balrog is awakened, are the dwarves of Khazad-dûm in imminent danger? What happened to Isildur (Maxim Baldry) in Mordor, and is the dude okay? While these questions can only be answered in future installments of the show, the fate of the Three Witches, who could be a part of the Cult of Melkor, still remains unanswered.
"Rings of Power" showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay spoke to Vanity Fair about whether the Three Witches are truly dead, and the duo gave extremely vague answers to this question, adding fuel to fan speculation. Payne said:
"There are glimpses into the unseen world where the true form of something is revealed. You're seeing what is underneath the form that they've been presenting. Were they [the witches] defeated, or were they just temporarily vanquished? I think that's a story point that people can be thinking about."
What does Payne mean when he talks about "the true form of something revealed?" Clearly, the showrunners want to keep this storyline open-ended and urge viewers to come up with their own theories as to whether there's more than meets the eye. Let us try and understand what this might mean.
The Three Witches Will Return (Maybe)
The Witches pursue The Stranger as they believe he's their master, Sauron. Their sole mission is to help their master regain a sense of who he truly is and guide him in the right direction. As a result, the Witches ask The Stranger to travel to Rhûn, where Sauron eventually rallies the Easterlings, according to canon. However, they are clearly mistaken in their assumption that The Stranger is Sauron — he is Ishtar, which translates to "magician." He is none other than the Gandalf we know and love.
When Gandalf uses his powers to defeat the three witches, the trio dissipates, revealing ethereal skeletal forms underneath. The beings turn into ghostly moths and scatter into the air, which can be interpreted as them dying. However, Payne's comment about the "Unseen World" adds layers to the scene: just like Frodo was able to see the Ringwraiths' true forms after he put on the One Ring, we are given a glimpse of the Witches' true forms when they dissipate. Are they beings that look similar to Ringwraiths? Is this a foreshadowing for the creation of Sauron's Black Riders or Nazgûl? It is too early to speculate at this point.
In the same interview linked above, McKay talks about taking inspiration from the "visual language" of Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings," which leads to an exploration into the idea of "different forms of magic." He also heavily suggests that the true form of the Witches are "hideous," but the raw power of Gandalf's light makes them seem beautiful. Although they're bested by the powerful wizard in this instance, they might return again, in a different form, sometime in the future. All we have to do is wait and see.
With "Terrifier 2" tearing up the box office as of late, many horror fans may want to go back and check out the outlandish makeup effects featured in Damien Leone's original "Terrifier" film. Before Art the Clown had become a popular Halloween tattoo and a neo-slasher icon, he was just a lowly hitchhiker on the side of a New Jersey highway waiting to pick out his first victims. One of those victims in "Terrifer" was Victoria Heyes (Samantha Scaffidi), the sister of Tara Heyes (Jenna Kanell) who winds up completely deformed by the end of the film. In retrospect, Victoria gets off light seeing as how another character named Dawn suffers a gruesome death at the hands of Art the Clown. (Imagine if that scene in S. Craig Zahler's "Bone Tomahawk" was done by a clown, and you'll start to get a very disturbing visual.)
The fate that Victoria experiences is too graphic for even the most desensitized gorehounds, and Leone has expressed remorse in the past that her character is most remembered for that drawn out, torturous scene. Discussing the making of "Terrifier" with Dread Central back in 2018, Leone said, "My biggest regret is I wish I would have fleshed out Samantha Scaffidi's character more, who was the sister, Victoria, the second heroine in the movie who gets deformed in the end."
Leone was performing double duty as director and doing the special effects, so he was burning the candle at both ends. Scaffidi's character suffered as a result. Leone admitted "It's tough to direct and do the special effects because that definitely takes a toll and both of those jobs get sacrificed to a degree."
'I Was Just On Autopilot'
The effects sequences are really what set this series apart from slasher films of the past. Getting those scenes to a place where they could truly shock an audience took a great deal of time to execute. David Howard Thornton's mime-inspired performance as Art the Clown adds some humor and physicality to the series that helps to balance out the extreme gore, and even his makeup effects took hours to complete. Leone realized it was too much work, telling Dread Central:
"I would rather hire a great makeup crew to do all the effects and I could just focus 100% on directing. For Art the Clown, we had to make him up probably 19 times throughout the course of the movie. It takes 2-3 hours and that's before we go into a 12-14 hour day and then I got to help him clean it off, and then by the time you go home and go to sleep you've got to come back, it's insane. Half of the time I was just on autopilot making that movie."
For "Terrifier 2" Damien Leone still wanted to outsource some of the effects until another company he had hired left the production altogether. He and his small crew were left to do all of the effects once again. In the sequel, Leone did have a second chance to develop Samantha Scaffidi's character when Victoria returns in a mid-credits scene. Instead, in a sick twist of fate, she gives birth to the head of Art the Clown in a graphic moment that almost rivals an earlier kill. Maybe Victoria will finally get fleshed out a bit more in "Terrifier 3," which will probably be announced any day now.
Have you ever wondered what R2-D2 is saying with the little beeps and boops and whirring that he does? Is he quoting the galaxy far, far away's version of William Shakespeare? Could he be making a great argument that Luke and Leia really shouldn't be kissing each other? Is he waxing philosophical about the steps that led the galactic government to become the Empire? Perhaps he is commenting on the prequels? Nope. As it turns out, he's just telling everyone to f*&@ *^%.
This little astromech droid has a long history in the "Star Wars" universe. We first saw him in "Star Wars: Episode IV -- A New Hope" as Princess Leia gave him data tapes with her message to Obi-Wan Kenobi. We saw his escape from a starship to Tatooine with his bestie, the protocol droid C-3PO, and his befriending of future jedi Luke Skywalker. Later, we learned that this beloved little blue and white garbage can served Naboo's Queen Amidala and helped Luke's X-Wing fighter fly so that he could attack the death star. He really has helped to save the galaxy several times over. R2-D2 deserves all the accolades, but someone has to wash out his gears with some droid-safe soap.
All of these years, you may have wondered how everyone understands what those little boops and beeps meant and why C-3PO always seemed so annoyed with him. Sure, Threepio is a bit of a stuck-up grump, but still. Maybe we've all been judging that shiny gold guy too harshly. R2 has apparently been saying some offensive things to him this entire time.
Is THAT What Beep Boop Means?
As it turns out, the fact that R2-D2 curses up a storm when he spits out those adorable little noises is actually canon in the world of "Star Wars." It was confirmed by a certain beloved Wookie actor, as well as in a comic book.
In the original script for "A New Hope," which was revealed on Twitter in 2016 by original Chewbacca actor, the late Peter Mayhew, R2-D2 spoke in "a flurry of electronic swearing," which is pretty great. Threepio reacts as expected, which is exactly like your grandparents might. He is not amused, and he's not afraid to say it. In the comic book "Star Wars" #13 by Jason Aaron and Mike Deodato (via ScreenRant), we learn all about it from the reactions of someone else. (Note that this is the "Star Wars" #13 from 2015, not the one from 2020. Comic books are confusing.)
Marvel Comics
In the story, Luke Skywalker and his faithful droid companions Artoo and Threepio crash on a planet after a battle with Darth Vader's ship. Luke has that squishy human body, though, and he's in really bad shape. Any of us would get grumpy if our friend got hurt, right? Well, fan-favorite character Doctor Aphra and her own little droid buddy Triple-Zero come across this trio. Little Artoo was helping his companion and keeping him safe until they arrived. When he saw Aphra and Triple-Zero, though, he started spitting out ugliness like, "Beebda Tweet Bwoop Woobeep Bleep Bleep Wuuruu," which you really shouldn't say in public.
Beebda Tweet Bwoop Woobeep
Triple-Zero, of course, speaks droid and has quite the reaction, saying, "My, what language. He certainly is a foul-mouthed little astromech. I wonder if he's capable of backing up such talk?" Aw, come on, Triple-Zero! You have to translate for us! Is he calling you a "bucket of bolts" or is he, like, making fun of your mom or something?? Inquiring minds want to know!
Of course, R2-D2 may not be saying words that those of us in the everyday world would have to "bleep" out. (Wait, is that rude?) He could be calling someone "sithspit," or saying something as benign as "laser brain." He could certainly be calling someone a "scruffy nerf herder," something he clearly learned from hanging around Princess Leia all those years. Then again, he could be saying "e chu ta" or calling someone "sleemo" in Huttese, just to upset Threepio, which R2-D2 really does love to do.
You do have to hand it to the little guy, though. No matter how he speaks, there is no more loyal droid in the entire galaxy. Let R2-D2 swear, as fans have assumed he's been doing since "A New Hope" premiered back in 1977. It's nice to know that it has been confirmed as "Star Wars" canon though.
He may be a big old potty-mouthed droid, but R2-D2 is also the best droid out there -- and he always ^$&*#@*% will be!
In Christopher McQuarrie's 2018 action spectacular "Mission: Impossible - Fallout," Henry Cavill plays a Special Activities Division agent named August Walker who is assigned to aid Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) in the retrieval of weaponized plutonium that had fallen into the wrong hands. Walker is a sour, exasperated, towering bruiser who sports impeccable hair, an amazing mustache, and biceps like pomelos. Needless to say, Hunt and Walker do not get along, as Hunt was the one who lost the aforementioned plutonium to begin with, and Walker suspects that something more nefarious may be going on. Hunt, likewise, suspects Walker.
Luckily, both of them are handy in a fight. In a film full of notable action and stunt sequences, one of the most memorable takes place in a public restroom with Walker fistfighting a cadre of potential weapons dealers. Cavill's fists are like anvils in this scene, and he lands punches with brutal precision. People are thrown through the air, sinks are smashed into shards, and the entire room is generally ruined for public use.
In a single beloved shot, Cavill approaches a foe and quickly flexes his elbows, throwing two downward practice punches into the air before putting up his dukes. It looks as if he's "cocking" his arms, loading them as if they were actual guns. "Cavill cocking his arms" became widely disseminated in .gif form, and many were eager to point out that men rarely look as damn sexy as Cavill did in that moment. While Cavill's arm flex seemed natural in the moment, however, brief reflection might have one asking why he did it. It is, after all, not a typical maneuver for fighters.
The Three-Week Fight
In a recent interview on the podcast Happy Sad Confused, Cavill was asked about the arm cocking move, and he was forthcoming about why he did it. It seems that the fight scene took so long to film that the actor's arms became fatigued. With sore biceps, Cavill needed to do something to warm himself back up, as it were. For however cool it looked, it was not part of McQuarrie's direction. Well, until it was. When the hosts asked if it was a choreographed maneuver, Cavill explained:
"No, no, there was nothing like that. It was actually because -- it was a rather intense fight scene, and we'd been shooting it for about three weeks at that stage, which is a long time in comparison to things like 'The Witcher,' where you get a day. Everything starts to get quite sore after a while, because it's a lot of repetitive motion. And the connected tendons in my biceps were getting sore, so I had to warm them up before I threw punches."
In "The Witcher," a fantasy series currently running on Netflix based on a series of novels by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, Cavill plays a magical monster hunter in an imaginary kingdom only referred to as The Continent, and his character frequently gets into scrapes. Seeing as "The Witcher" is produced on a tight TV schedule, Cavill certainly has a lot less time to prepare for the action. Where by contrast the fight scene in "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" is elaborate and lasts about two full minutes.
'I Can't Believe I Did That'
When Cavill initially "cocked" his arms, he was embarrassed. It was a way to get a second wind. but he ended up hating the way it looked. On the following take, McQuarrie had realized something was missing and asked the actor to do the move deliberately. The rest, as they say, is history. Cavill related the conversation he had with his director:
"I'd literally do that to warm them up, and I did it once, and I thought, 'Oh, God, that probably looked really stupid. I can't believe I did that.' I said, 'Sorry, McQ. I won't do that again.' And he's like, 'Do what? OK, whatever. Let's go again.' Then I did another take without doing it, and he's like, 'Why didn't you do that thing? That was really good.' I was like, 'That was good?!' And he said, 'Yes! Definitely do that. Do that.' So we did."
And what they did was glorious.
The arm-cock, even robbed from its context, spread like wildfire, and the public began over-examining it. If one sees a small repeating loop of the moment, one can see Cavill moving underneath a different lighting setup, and it briefly looks like his facial hair suddenly becomes bushier. Additionally, an previously unseen shirt pocket appears to spontaneously generate on his chest. The change of Cavill's appearance mid-shot led some to believe that it was meticulously edited together from two shots that were somehow "blended." Even Tom Cruise was asked about the beard, and he too was baffled.
The logical explanation is that it was a mere change of lighting. Or that Cavill became so unerringly manly in that moment, that he grew the beard himself. I choose to believe the latter.
Besides maybe "Apocalypse Now," there are very few films with such a well-known and documented history of alternate versions as "Blade Runner." Directed by Ridley Scott, the theatrical version released in 1982 was nothing like the director had wanted, complete with a "happy ending" that didn't flow with the rest of the film. The poorly named Director's Cut, made ten years later in 1992, also didn't have Scott's blessing or much of his involvement. Finally, in the "Final Cut" in 2007, the director could tell the story he wanted of Deckard and his intense and existential experience with rogue replicants.
Plenty of scenes were removed or added in all these versions of the film. However, there are still deleted scenes and scrapped concepts that have yet to be seen. One such scene that's not in any version of "Blade Runner" that's been released is an alternate take on a crucial moment between Rutger Hauer's character Roy Batty and Eldon Tyrell, portrayed by Joe Turkel. While the various cuts of "Blade Runner" all depict the same fate of Tyrell at the hands of his creation Roy Batty, makeup effects legend Tom Savini had a conversation with Hauer that revealed an alternate version of the scene with not one, but two Tyrell's.
Confronting The Wrong Tyrell
/Film recently had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Tom Savini, and the makeup effects artist who worked on projects such as "Dawn of the Dead" and "Knightriders" spoke about a conversation with Rutger Hauer that revealed a stunning alternate ending to Roy Batty's encounter with his creator:
"I remember sitting around with Rutger Hauer just talking, and he told me about 'Blade Runner.' The ending of 'Blade Runner' is not what you see in the movie. When he goes to the Tyrell Corporation and kills Tyrell, he puts his thumbs in his eyeballs... that's not Tyrell. The real Tyrell is upstairs in a cryogenically frozen container with a special tattoo on his forehead. He was bald with a tattoo on his forehead, and Rutger wanted that tattoo in [made-for-TV movie] "Mr. Stitch," which we did. But in 'Blade Runner,' he sees Tyrell frozen, which was not in the movie. You're led to believe that Joe Turkel was Tyrell, but he wasn't. So it was fun hanging out with Rutger Hauer."
Roy Batty and his group of replicants are after Tyrell throughout the runtime of "Blade Runner," hoping that the one who created them would also find a way to extend their lives. In a scene that feels like a futuristic retelling of "Frankenstein," Batty finally confronts his maker, questioning the one flaw that keeps him from living longer. The idea of Batty discovering that the Tyrell he killed was a replicant itself and the real Tyrell was frozen feels like one twist too many in a film already filled with them. Moreover, Batty's cathartic experience of killing the man who brought him so much pain is robbed with this twist. Thankfully, in the end, this was just Hauer sharing an interesting anecdote with Savini about one of possibly many "Blade Runner" scenes that could have been.
The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red announced today that the original 2007 game is being remade from the ground-up in Unreal Engine 5 with the same toolset being used on upcoming Witcher titles.
Formerly codenamed Canis Majoris, the remake is a collaboration between CDPR and developer Fool’s Theory, who is most known for their support work on RPGs such as Divinity Original Sin II, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Outriders. Fool's Theory is also home to many former CDPR staff members who worked on the original Witcher trilogy of games.
Regarding the announcement, CDPR studio head Adam Badowski said that while players should be excited, they should also be patient as the remake is still in the early stages of development:
“The Witcher is where it all started for us, for CD PROJEKT RED. It was the first game we made, ever, and it was a big moment for us then. Going back to this place and updating the game for the next generation of gamers to experience it is just as big, if not bigger,” said Adam Badowski, Head of Studio, CD PROJEKT RED. “Collaborating with Fool’s Theory on the project is just as exciting, as some of the people there have been previously involved in The Witcher games. They know the source material well, they know how much gamers have been looking forward to seeing the remake happen, and they know how to make incredible and ambitious games. And although it will take some time before we’re ready to share more about and from the game, I know it’ll be worth the wait.”
The Witcher was first released in 2007 on PC and is based on the novel series from Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. A console version was scheduled to release in 2009 but was cancelled due to financial issues with port developer Widescreen Games. Sequels followed in 2011 and 2015 to round out the original trilogy, with CDPR recently announcing that a new saga of Witcher games is in the works.
Fallout Lego has long been a dream of fans of the Bethesda RPG game, a whole, actual videogame, mirroring the style of Lego Star Wars, Lego Indiana Jones, and all those Traveller’s Tales hits. Well, as the apocalypse and survival franchise turns 25 years old, and we await further news on Elder Scrolls 6 and the Starfield release date, Fallout Lego is actually here. And you can play it now. For free.
Remote attackers could exploit two Event Log vulnerabilities in Windows to crash the Event Log application and cause a denial-of-service (DoS) condition, Varonis warns.
Event Log is an Internet Explorer-specific application that exists in all Windows iterations, due to the deep integration of the browser with the operating system.
Checkmarx warns that attackers could have exploited the renaming of popular GitHub accounts to create malicious repositories using the vacated name and launch software supply chain attacks.
When an actor does such a good job at playing their role, it's hard to imagine anyone else taking their place — a testament to the casting director's final call. But it doesn't always mean that they were originally the first (or even third) choice for the role. Sometimes, the best option isn't so obvious.
Such was the case when Delphi II Productions began the process of casting Mr. Miyagi for "The Karate Kid." As the movie's star Ralph Macchio shared in his recent memoir, "Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me" (which /Film's Jenna Busch spoke to the actor about), most of the team was doubtful about the late Pat Morita's ability to play Mr. Miyagi since the relatively serious character was a big change from his previous comical roles:
"The focus was on the dramatic side of the character. Finding an actor of range and depth who would be authentic. One who had the look and feel of a true martial arts master but could also reveal a warm and caring side."
Initially, Morita was barely even considered for the role. Instead, everyone seemed to be set on Toshiro Mifune ("Seven Samurai," "Rashomon) — after all, there was no doubt that he had the dramatic abilities. However, there were a couple of big problems: Mifune barely spoke any English, and according to Macchio, while he put on a Kurosawa-esque performance, his version of Mr. Miyagi lacked an "embraceable human side." So, the search continued.
Morita Faced His Own Long Journey To Become Mr. Miyagi
As the studio kept looking for someone to play Mr. Miyagi, they made it a point to test out a wide variety of actors. Eventually, Pat Morita got a turn, too — and as he told the Television Academy Foundation, his initial meeting with director John Avildsen was surprisingly encouraging.
Several days later, Avildsen had a meeting with producer Jerry Weintraub, who had been vehemently opposed to even interviewing Morita on the basis of his past work. When Weintraub saw a recording of Avildsen's meeting with Morita, he was impressed and inquired about the actor's identity. The search for Mr. Miyagi had suddenly got a lot more promising, though Morita didn't have the role in the bag just yet.
The actor was met with the "Karate Kid" team five more times and was continually tested — as Morita would recall, "they want[ed] to see if I can do it again, ... they want[ed] to see if there's chemistry [with Macchio]." It was a long process, but eventually, all the work paid off. Weintraub was won over, Morita and Macchio proved their chemistry, and the pair were both given official confirmation of their roles. Plus, there was a small silver lining: experimentation during the interview process led to Morita's personal handkerchief becoming Daniel LaRusso's signature headband.
The Karate Kid's Success Led To Typecasting
Unfortunately, not all that glitters is gold. While Morita rightfully won over the hearts of "Karate Kid" viewers, his daughter Aly Morita later reflected that the franchise's success led to typecasting; combined with the lack of available roles for Asian-American actors, her father found it hard to secure different types of roles. According to his daughter, Morita's fall after extreme success took a toll on him. In her own words, "[t]he weight and loneliness of fame ultimately destroyed him."
As for the actor's own perspective on the matter, Pat Morita told the Television Academy Foundation that as an actor, he was just happy to be in front of a camera, no matter if the role was typecast or not — though that excitement didn't go away when he landed an unfamiliar role, either. Still, his daughter's comments touch on a darker, often-ignored side to on-screen success: it's hard to break out of a typecast, so what happens to the actor — the person, not their career — when their signature role is no longer popular?
SteamOS is the system that makes the Steam Deck tick and could be compared to, say, Android for mobile phones. It’s the basis that everything on the device needs to run on, and needless to say, quite important for the Deck. Anyways, a brand-new development on SteamOS seems to have found its way onto the news cycle, so let’s break it down.
According to SteamDeckHQ, the OS is getting various developer repository updates. Most notably, the fact that the SteamOS Media Creation tool’s existence in the first place really puts this idea into relative credence. Earlier this week, the Media Creation tool was updated.
If one were to download and run the Media Creation tool, they’d get a window telling them to select the SteamOS image from the machine.
It should very much go without saying, but you shouldn’t try running this to reimage your computer as of current (since it’s not officially out in any way). Meanwhile, the fact that SteamOS could very well come to PC has become more prevalent. This is because a Steam Deck-like variant of Big Picture was launched for testing today.
Coming from Valve themselves, PC users can opt into this Big Picture feature set and try it themselves by opting into the Steam Client beta and then adding the term -gamepadui to their Steam shortcut. Players are able to run their games through here and access most of Steam’s capabilities like normal, and you can go to Steam’s forums and report bugs that are found.
This makes the idea of SteamOS being a reality on PC a real possibility. However, they should add the feature to switch between the base Steam desktop layout and the updated SteamOS one in the future, so players still have that choice.
If you prefer not to use the new Big Picture layout, you can remove the aforementioned -gamepadui from the shortcut, close Steam, and launch the program normally. We’ll continue to update you as more information on SteamOS and Steam Deck is released.
Guillermo del Toro’s CABINET OF CURIOSITIES l NetflixThere is an art to telling a scary story. Finding new ways to get under people’s skin and make them think today is tricky. When presented with an anthology of stories with a unifying theme, maintaining the throughline while also imbuing the story with your own signature stamp is trickier. Yet, it can be done. We’ve seen it in books like Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and shows like “Creepshow” and “The Twilight Zone.” It is the latter that some may think of when confronted with Guillermo del Toro’s CABINET OF CURIOSITIES, with del Toro acting as the curator of tales in this horror anthology.
Dropping on Netflix in two-part segments from October 25-28, each segment focuses on a theme for each director and writer to explore. Ranging from greed to grief, death to life, and more, each segment has its moments to shine. Blurring the lines between reality and the supernatural, there is a significant Lovecraftian influence on these tales. Heck, some of them are based on Lovecraft’s own work. These stories are the base that del Toro and company build to give their own spin.
For those viewers seeking outright scares, Guillermo del Toro’s CABINET OF CURIOSITIES may not be for you. These are the stories you’d tell around a fire while waiting out a storm ala Mary Shelley and Lord Byron. Morality tales delivered in subtle spooky fashion; this is what I imagine a Halloween night of tale-telling involving.
Lot 36 and Graveyard Rats
Courtesy Netflix
Each episode leads with an introduction from Guillermo del Toro before launching us into a new tale. His narration is soothing and evokes those “Twilight Zone” memories of yore. With Netflix dropping two episodes a day, each pairing encapsulates and builds upon its assigned theme.
“Lot 36” and “Graveyard Rats” are first up, and both tackle the theme of greed excellently. Both stories serve as warnings that we should all heed the dangers of letting greed consume us. Directed by Guillermo Navarro and written by Regina Corrado, based on an original story by del Toro, “Lot 36” focuses on a man who purchases storage units to flip the contents inside. Tim Blake Nelson’s Nick Appleton is positively awful. To explain further would ruin the surprise.
“Graveyard Rats” is a nightmare for those with rodent phobias. Written and directed by Vincenzo Natali, and based on the short story by Henry Kuttner, we are introduced to a caretaker of a graveyard who is drowning in debt. Contrasted against “Lot 36,” though, the character is more morally grey. David Hewlett’s Masson is a bit tragic. Hewlett infuses the character with a sorry likability that will tug at the heartstrings. But greed always comes at a price, and both “Lot 36” and “Graveyard Rats” highlight this well.
The Autopsy and The Outside
Courtesy Netflix
CABINET OF CURIOSITIES starts with the theme of greed. Episodes 3 and 4 focus on the body and everything that entails. While it is difficult to play favorites, this segment of the anthology is incredibly strong. “The Autopsy” might be the standout for many viewers. Written and directed by David Prior, based on a short story by Michael Shea, it’s difficult not to be drawn into F. Murray Abraham’s performance. You can’t look away. Of all the performances delivered in this anthology, Abraham’s performance may be my favorite.
“The Outside” is one of two more colorful episodes in CABINET OF CURIOSITIES, and it provides a welcome visual contrast. Directed by Ana Lily Amirpour and written by Haley Z. Boston, based on a short story by Emily Carroll, the story is a journey focusing on self-acceptance. This is an idea that many might find relatable, but things do get dark. A surprise in “The Outside” was Dan Stevens, who gets up to all sorts of shenanigans here.
Pickman’s Model and Dreams in the Witch House
Courtesy Netflix
We then move onto supernatural fare with “Pickman’s Model” and “Dreams in the Witch House.” Both are adaptations of Lovecraft stories, so there is a certain expectation built in for strangeness to occur. “Pickman’s Model” starts things off on a bleak note. Directed by Keith Thomas and written by Lee Patterson, this is a story that deals with the balance between hope and nihilism. Ben Barnes does well here, though the expansion of the story reminds of Dorian Gray. This is likely Crispin Glover is well-cast, but not sure if the role itself is a stretch for his talents.
“Dream in the Witch House” is arguably the most beautiful episode of Guillermo del Toro’s CABINET OF CURIOSITIES. It’s directed by Catherine Hardwicke who has always known how to deliver visuals. The screenplay is written by Mike Watkins. With all that said, it might be the weakest due to the story itself and overall execution. That said, Rupert Grint delivers grief and drug-addled sensibilities well here in his performance. Desperately wanting to see his deceased sister again, you can feel his sadness offscreen, and this serves as the glue that will keep viewers invested.
The Viewing and The Murmuring
Courtesy Netflix
Wrapping up the first season of Guillermo del Toro’s CABINET OF CURIOSITIES are the episodes “The Viewing” and “The Murmuring.” Both episodes feel directly within their respective directors’ wheelhouses. If you’ve followed their work, the episodes will feel both familiar and surprising.
“The Viewing” is directed by Panos Cosmatos, who co-wrote the screenplay with Aaron Stewart-Ahn. It is based on a story by Michael Shea. “The Viewing” is markedly different compared to previous episodes in both visuals and execution. Rather than focusing on an individual, Cosmatos expands to tackle a group of characters instead. Yes, they will experience an awakening, but Cosmatos’ approach allows for some mind-bending, trippy excitement along the way. In a way, “The Viewing” aligns with Cosmatos’ general filmmaking vibe.
Speaking of vibes, “The Murmuring” and its focus on grief aligns well with director Jennifer Kent’s previous work. Essie Davis rejoins Kent on this project, which further reminds us of just how well the two work together. “The Murmuring” is directed and written by Kent, based on a short story by del Toro. It’s difficult to say much else, but the process of grieving always reveals the ghosts that live in and outside our minds.
The craft and final words on CABINET OF CURIOSITIES
Courtesy Netflix
Like all of Guillermo del Toro’s projects, the below-the-line artisans must be discussed. With most of the episodes having a similar visual vibe, it makes sense that the level of cohesion is because of returning Del Toro’s faves. Of note, Tamara Deverell (Nightmare Alley) returns to tackle the production design. Once again, she does an incredible job of hitting the visual designs necessary for the time periods and places viewers are taken to with each episode.
Luís Sequeira returns once more in costume design. If you’re familiar with their work, you’ll know Sequeira never fails to deliver, especially once we get into more overt period pieces. Even Cosmatos’ wild child of an episode delivers impeccable design work, and it’s the below-the-line crew we need to thank.
As a horror anthology, Guillermo del Toro’s CABINET OF CURIOSITIES is well-done. It may not deliver jump scare levels of horror and the stories themselves will feel familiar. That said, these are the stories that we’d use to teach important lessons to children at night pre-cinema. Like fairytales and folklore, these stories carry themes teaching us about greed, life, death, balance, and more. The horror is the path that the message must take for proper delivery.
Starting October 25, two episodes will be released each night on Netflix. All eight episodes of Guillermo del Toro’s CABINET OF CURIOSITIES will be available October 28th. Just in time for Halloween weekend.
The latest NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready Driver is here, and with it comes several optimizations and improvements for some of the latest games to reach the market. Today, update 526.47 brings RTX optimization for Sackboy: A Big Adventure, NVIDIA DLSS 3 for F1 22, and one-click optimal settings for several games.
Let's start with the big one. Sackboy: A Big Adventure is going to be released on PC after being a PlayStation exclusive for the longest time. On October 27, the emblematic pseudo mascot for the platform will embark on an adventure to take down the evil Vex and save Craftworld from a twisted device that threatens its existence.
The latest Game Ready Driver update will allow players to prepare for the game's release. You will be able to enhance the experience with features such as DLSS and ray-traced reflections, shadows, and ambient occlusion effects. At 4K, with max settings and every ray-traced option enabled, DLSS Super Resolution accelerates frame rates by up to 2.5X
The update also brings one click-optimization for the following games:
Broken Pieces
Construction Simulator
Crossfire HD
Disney Dreamlight Valley
FIFA 23
NBA 2K23
Overwatch 2
Shatterline
The latest Game Ready Driver also brings a new DLSS 3 game with the release of F1 22's DLSS 3 update. This racer made by Codemasters and Electronic Arts already has immersive ray-traced opaque reflections, transparent reflections, ambient occlusion, and DLSS. But now, on October 31, you'll be able to enjoy the game with the power of RTX 40 series graphics cards with DLSS 3.
The Game Ready Driver 526.47 update also brings optimizations for upcoming titles. The update will bring laucnh support for Victoria 3 and WRC Generations - The FIA WRC Official Game. The latter of which will be released on November 3.
The NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready Driver 526.47 WHQL is currently available for download for all NVIDIA graphics card users. All you have to do is download the driver through GeForce NOW. You can also manually install the driver through NVIDIA's website
Game Of Thrones author George R. R. Martin has admitted he hasn’t played Elden Ring, despite creating the history and lore for FromSoftware’s RPG. He does have a fairly good reason for it, though. On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Martin said, “I have not played it because people seem to want this Winds Of Winter book,” the (very) long-awaited sixth chapter in the Game Of Thrones series.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m into survival games with a goal past staying alive, because if surviving is the only goal, what’s the point in living at all (he says, with a firm glare at the Tory party)? Grounded has its main quest and Minecraft has the Ender Dragon, for example, which gives you something to work towards past simply keeping your heart beating. 7 Days to Die is the biggest counterpoint to that, with its routine weekly horde attacks delivering moreish gameplay that keeps me playing way past my bedtime.
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