Emahlstadt

God bless The New York Times, which, from its front page, to its Opinion page, to the even crappier parts of its Opinion page, has never shied away from a chance to freak the American people well and truly out. Hence, today, a new report from the Grey Lady, detailing the potential danger of “murder hornets,” which are…

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Just 1.9 percent of Steam users own VR headsets.

This statistic was revealed by Valve following a recent hardware survey (via Road to VR) – the first survey of this kind since the March release of its flagship VR title Half-Life: Alyx.

This statistic represents the number of headsets connected to Steam over a particular month – which means, while it’s the closest we have to data on active VR users, it does not account for headsets which were connected but not actively used.

Even so, the numbers are fascinating. April 2020 saw a surge in VR users, nearly three times the prior record reached in the winter of 2019. Based on its own estimates, Road to VR reports that 950,000 additional VR headsets connected during this period, totalling an estimated 2.7 million headsets.

As we reported in January, the Index VR headset was already sold out in-stores and online. While Index isn’t the only VR headset you can use to play Half-Life: Alyx – Valve designed the game to work with a wide range of headsets – the increased demand was most likely driven squarely by the game.

Half-Life: Alyx was a critical hit when it lauched two months ago, receiving a 5 out of 5 review from VG247.”One of the reasons Valve never counted to three and gave us a proper sequel is the expectation that comes with it,” Kirk wrote of the franchise. “The series’ core ideas have been refined and polished, and believable physics are no longer such a novelty in video games. Where is left for Half-Life to innovate? It turns out Valve just needed new tech. It just needed VR.”

The post Fewer than 2% of Steam users own VR headsets, despite surge that followed Half-Life: Alyx appeared first on VG247.

Courtesy of 247Sports

The Port Arthur product becomes the first defensive line commit of the #trUTh21 class.

After narrowing his choices to the Texas Longhorns and the Texas A&M Aggies in April, weak-side defensive end Jordon Thomas committed to the Horns on Saturday, becoming the first defensive lineman in the 2021 class.

The Longhorns won the in-state battle for the highly-coveted defender, in spite of his four trips to College Station for unofficial visits and camps. Even with all of the time he spend in College Station, the commitment to Texas was expected — the Longhorns held two early Crystal Balls for Thomas, with three more coming in in the hours before his commitment.

The 6’3, 240-pound defender missed his junior season due to a leg injury, but managed to perform well enough his sophomore year and at camps to earn his consensus four-star rating. Thomas is the No. 36 player in the state of Texas, the No. 235 player overall, giving Texas six commitments from the top 50 players in the state. He is the second defensive commit in the class and the first defensive lineman in the group, joining outside linebacker Derrick Harris, Jr. in the fold.

Thomas is the second player in the last week to join the #trUTh21 class after tight end Landen King broke the eight-month drought with his pledge to Texas. With his commitment, the class now boasts five players from the top 250 players in the country.

Film Takeaways:

Daniel Seahorn: Thomas is a bit of an interesting study due to the fact he missed his junior season due to a lower leg injury. His evaluation requires more projecting than usual due to the long layoff, and it makes his senior season particularly important when it comes to piecing together a through evaluation of him as a player.

At 6’3, 240 pounds, Thomas possesses good size with the frame that will continue to allow him pack on good weight as he continues to develop. It has been kicked around that Thomas could kick inside to defensive tackle at the collegiate level and I could see that as a possibility if his body really takes to the S&C program.

Thomas possesses a solid get off at the snap and flashes the ability to beat offensive tackles over the top, but he will need to improve on being more consistent in this aspect of his game. Thomas possesses good power in his hands, and he has the ability to put offensive linemen on their heels with a good bull rush. Thomas’ power shows up against the run as well as he shows the ability to hold up at the POA and shows he can win his fair share of one on one battles when asked to. Thomas shows the ability to establish a new LOS, as he has proven he is capable of pressing tackles and tight ends into the backfield.

Thomas gives good effort when it comes to pursuing ball carriers and shows the ability to chase down plays from the backside, but he will need to improve as a tackler, as he tends to not bring his feet consistently when it comes to corralling guys. Thomas is raw technically on tape, as he must continue to be more consistent when it comes with the ability win with his hands, as well as becoming more diversified with his pass rushing repertoire.

The ability and athleticism are there, but at this point Thomas is a bit of a wild stallion and just needs to become more refined from a technical standpoint. I will be keeping eyes on Thomas to see how he rebounds from the injury that derailed his junior season, as it will tell us a good bit of where he is at from a development standpoint before he hits campus.

yakubgodgave:

A.F. Vandevorst installation for Arnhem Mode Biennale 2011

Mere weeks after Spyglass announced David Bruckner as the director of its David S. Goyer-produced Hellraiser reboot, HBO has announced that it, too, wants some of that sweet, sweet suffering.

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YouTuber Mako Ray brings a little brightness to a burning world with their latest project: An Animal Crossing-based cover band that recreates 1980s soft-rock hit Africa by Toto.

And it’s honestly an extraordinary effort (thanks, Kotaku).

So much so that Mako is getting asked whether it’s even real. And it is, although attempting it isn’t for the feint of heart.

In a tweet, Mako describes the complicated process of recreating a song in Animal Crossing using in-game instruments. Each instrument is played by a villager and recorded individually, before being composited into a single scene.

Using random notes, Mako cuts it all together into a single composition. The final product is pitch-shifted to closely match the notes in the original song.

“[T]o those asking “is this real?”: i recorded myself in different outfits playing random notes on each instrument and then i pitch shifted clips to match the song’s notes and composited every take together into one scene,” writes Mako. “[T]his was actually a lot more work than i expected.”

to those asking "is this real?": i recorded myself in different outfits playing random notes on each instrument and then i pitch shifted clips to match the song's notes and composited every take together into one scene. this was actually a lot more work than i expected. pic.twitter.com/6pYhoExhdG

— Mako Ray (@makorays) April 23, 2020

If you’re just getting started in the game, or need some pointers, be sure to check out Animal Crossing: New Horizons guide to perfecting your island paradise.

The post Animal Crossing: New Horizons fan covers this classic ’80s tune using villagers and in-game instruments appeared first on VG247.

It’s time to add the study of fine art to your Animal Crossing: New Horizons Villager’s growing list of qualities. He’s a rare visitor, but the wily fox Jolly Redd is a returning vendor in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, selling masterpieces of “questionable” authenticity.

To broaden the knowledge of the arts on your island home, here’s how to unlock Redd’s Treasure Trawler, as well as tell whether his gallery of art is fake or real.

Redd was added post-launch in an update to New Horizons, and the Treasure Trawler peddles masterworks from around the world – but there’s a catch. In Redd’s inventory are pieces of deviously crafted fake art, paintings and statues, which could fool even the most meticulous collector. However, your old pal Blathers will be able to give anything you buy the definitive seal of approval.

All of the pieces are Animal Crossing versions of a world-famous tour-de-force by some of the most respected practitioners in history – including van Gogh, da Vinci, and Rembrandt, as well as classical Japanese artists.

Not only can you display these new art pieces in your home, but Blathers has opened a whole extra wing of the museum to show them off. By submitting pieces to the museum, you’ll get some extra information on their artist and creation.

• Skip to how to spot Redd’s fake art, paintings and statues
• Skip to Redd’s haunted paintings and statues
• Skip to fake paintings list
• Skip to fake statues list
• Skip to how to get art and unlock Redd’s Treasure Trawler

How to spot Redd’s fake art, paintings and statues

If – like me – you haven’t had the luxury of whiling away the years on an art history degree, then the subtle discrepancies in the fake art pieces can be difficult to spot – especially the paintings.

To tell Redd’s fakes from the real deal, you’re looking for tiny differences in the Animal Crossing version to the real-life work. This can take the form of things that are missing, things that are added, things that have changed size, or things that have changed color from the original.

One tip is to use the zoomed-in view you get of a piece before you buy to thoroughly inspect it. But you can also speak to your regular villagers for a bit of extra info. If any of them mention they bought a specific fake painting or statue from Redd then you know the one he’s trying to sell you is fake too!

Refer to the lists below for a full run-down of what you need to know.

Redd’s Haunted Paintings and Statues

With a few of the faux masterpieces, it’s not just the mistakes that tip you off to their authenticity. There are a few works the community have dubbed “haunted” paintings and statues because of their habit of doing weird and wonderful things.

These include:

The haunted Ancient Statue which levitates from its podium.

Here's a clip of the fake Ancient Statue/Real Alien floating #AnimalCrossing #ACNH #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/CNPGPeYDHJ

— Min Min from ARMS™ says ACAB and #BlackLivesMatter (@Trogdorbad) April 28, 2020

The fake Wistful Painting and Scary Painting can both be haunted too – they blink and change their expression respectively. There’s also the fake Graceful Painting, which has a creepy shadowy figure appear on the back of its frame.

You can see all of them in the embedded video below (volume warning):

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Fake Paintings list

Below are all of the paintings that were datamined from Animal Crossing: New Horizons, including their real-world counterparts.

It is possible for Redd’s inventory to be all fake, the rotten scoundrel. If this happens, you can either buy one of the counterfeits to display in your own home or leave the trawler in a huff.

The differences between the authentic and fake paintings – as well as the statues – were reported on the r/AnimalCrossing subreddit by u/Acadiaa.

We’ve listed all of the errors which out them as fakes, as well as adding pictures of the real art, so you can make comparisons with what Redd’s stocking.

Click or tap the images for a larger view.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Redd Fake Art List
Art Animal Crossing Name:	Art Real Name:	Real vs Fake:	What the real-life painting looks like:
Academic Painting	The Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci	Fake has stain in the top right corner
Amazing Painting	The Night Watch by Rembrandt	In the fake, the man in the middle with a red sash is not wearing a hat
Basic Painting	The Blue Boy by Thomas Gainsborough	In the fake, the Blue Boy has a full fringe (bangs) with no gaps for his forehead
Calm Painting	A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat	Has no fake
Common Painting	The Gleaners by Jean-Francois Millet	Has no fake
Detailed Painting	Rooster and Hen with Hydrangeas by Ito Jakuchu	Fake is missing the japanese script on the left-hand side of the painting
Dynamic Painting	The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai	In previous games, there was a fake version where the island in the background was too big, but reported to have no fake in New Horizons
Famous Painting	The Mona Lisa	Fake has saucy arched eyebrows
Flowery Painting	Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh	Has no fake
Glowing Painting	The Fighting Temeraire by Joseph Turner	Has no fake
Graceful Painting	Beauty Looking Back by Hishikawa Moronobu	In the fake, the figure is too big -she should only take up about half the brown background
Jolly Painting	Summer by Giuseppe Arcimboldo	Real has a flower protruding from chest, the fake does not
Moody Painting	The Sower by Jean-Francois Millet	Has no fake
Moving Painting	The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli	The fake has no trees in the top right corner
Mysterious Painting	The Isle of the Dead or Die Toteninsel by Arnold Bocklin	Has no fake
Nice Painting	The Fifer by Edouard Manet	Has no fake
Perfect Painting	Still Life with Apples and Oranges by Paul Cezanne	Has no fake
Proper Painting	A Bar at the Folies-Bergere by Edouard Manet	Has no fake
Quaint Painting	The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer	Fake is pouring a lot more milk
Scary Painting	Kabuki Actor Ōtani Oniji III as Yakko Edobei in the Play The Colored Reins of a Loving Wife by Toshusai Sharaku	The fake has eyebrows that point up like the figure is confused, whereas they should be pointed down in a frown
Scenic Painting	The Hunters in the Snow or The Return of the Hunters by Pieter Bruegel	Fake only has one hunter on the left and fewer dogs
Serene Painting	Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci	The ermine is white in the real painting, it's different colors in the fake
Sinking Painting	Ophelia by John Everett Millais	Has no fake
Solemn Painting	Las Meninas or The Ladies-in-waiting by Diego Velazquez	In the fake, the man in the background has his arm pointed up like he's waving, in the real one it's more horizontal
Twinkling Painting	Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh	Has no fake
Warm Painting	The Clothed Maja or La Maja Vestida by Francisco de Gyoa	Has no fake
Wild Painting Left Half	Wind God and Thunder God by Ogata Korin (Raijin)	Figure should be white in real painting, but he's green in the fake
Wild Painting Right Half	Wind God and Thunder God by Ogata Korin (Fuujin)	Figure should be green in the real painting, but is white in the fake
Wistful Painting	The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer	The girl has a big star earring in the fake
Worthy Painting	Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix	Has no fake

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Fake Statues list

If you’re more of an outdoorsy type, here are all of the statues that were datamined from Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

We’ve rounded up a list of everything that makes the bogus ones fake, and included a picture of the real thing for your reference. You can click or tap the images for a larger view.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Redd Fake Statues List
Statue Animal Crossing Name:	Statue Real Name:	Real vs Fake:	What the real-life statue looks like:
Ancient Statue	A Doguu figure	The fake has pointy antennae on the side of its head
Beautiful Statue	Venus de Milo	The fake has a necklace on
Familiar Statue	The Thinker or Le Penseur by Auguste Rodin	Has no fake
Gallant Statue	David by Michelangelo	Fake is holding something under his arm
Great Statue	Hawaiian Kamehameha statue	Has no fake
Informative Statue	The Rosetta Stone	The fake one is blue
Motherly Statue	The Capitoline Wolf	The wolf in the fake statue has a tongue hanging out of her mouth
Mystic Statue	Bust of Nefertiti	The fake statue is wearing an earring
Robust Statue	The Discobolus of Myron	The fake is wearing a band around its discus-throwing wrist
Rock-head Statue	Olmec Head	The fake one is smiling
Tremendous Statue	Houmuwu ding	The fake has a cover on the box, the real one is left open
Valiant Statue	The Winged Victory of Samothrace	On the real statue, its bare left leg is visible
Warrior Statue	Emperor Qinshihuang's Terracotta Army	The fake is leaning on a long weapon in front of it - the real one doesn't hold anything

How to get art and unlock Redd’s Treasure Trawler

There’s actually quite an involved process to get Redd’s Treasure Trawler to visit with art and statues for your island.

For a visual guide, this video from YouTuber TagBackTV shows the whole process, but we’ll write it out too:

First, you need to make sure you’ve downloaded the latest update so that all of the content will appear in-game. Next, go to Blathers in the town Museum and he’ll have an announcement: a new fine art wing of the building is being planned.

Blathers will ask you to keep an eye out for art to put on display, and to bring him any you find.

Now wait until the next day and look around your island. You should find a new visitor – the sneaky orange fox, Redd. He’s managed to drop his “crazy” moniker from previous games, but he’s no less wily.

Speak to Redd and he’ll offer you a totally legit piece of artwork for the low-low price of about 500,000 bells. When you baulk at the figure he’ll drop the sum 100-fold, and you’ll only have to pay about 5000 bells. From what I’ve seen, the first piece of art Redd sells you will be real. But different people will get different works. For example I got the Wistful Painting of Girl with a Pearl Earring, while TagBackTV in the video got the Academic Painting of The Vitruvian Man.

Take him up on the cut-price deal, then go and show the art to Blathers. With the pristine painting now in his possession, Blathers will begin construction on the new-and-improved Museum.

That means it’ll be closed for a full day while renovations take place.

Once it’s done-and-dusted, you’ll be able to peruse the fine art room of the Museum. Head back outside for a celebratory ceremony if you want to have one, then look around your island.

The devious Redd should appear again on your island, only this time when you speak to him he’ll say he’s dropped anchor on the northern shore of your island.

Now you can head up to his Treasure Trawler to visit Redd’s art gallery showroom. It should be on the secluded beach that’s in the middle of the northern shore of your island – you’ll need a ladder to get there.

Inside, there will be two furniture pieces, and four pieces of art.

However you need to be selective; you can only buy one piece of art per day, although you can grab as many furniture pieces on top of that as you like.

Redd is an island visitor like Gulliver and Saharah, so he won’t be there every day. Once you’ve purchased a painting or statue he’ll ship it to your mailbox to collect the next day.

For more on Animal Crossing: New Horizons, check out our lists of all of the fish prices, as well as all of the bug prices.

Or if you’re more excited about the new stuff coming to your island, here’s how the upgrade to Nook’s Cranny happens!

The post Animal Crossing: New Horizons Redd Fake Art – How to spot fake paintings and statues appeared first on VG247.

Everyone wants it, only the fortunate have found it.

The endgame of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is to make the kind of home that would give Kirstie Allsopp a heart attack. No but, like, in a good way. And to that end, thousands of players have their sights set on one elusive item: the ironwood kitchenette. It’s a fetching piece of furniture boasting a polished sink, wooden counter, dark accents, and storage space for precisely two plates. The look is traditional yet modern, homely yet sophisticated. And for many players it’s proving absolutely indispensable.

The ironwood kitchenette is part of a ten-piece set including a similarly stylish bed, chair, cupboard, dresser, clock, and table. These are the infinity stones of Animal Crossing, essentially. But what makes them, and in particular the ironwood kitchenette, so sought-after? Why is everyone so enamoured with the ironwood? To find out, I asked everyone. Right in their face.

For supatoedie, a member of the r/AnimalCrossing subreddit, it’s the authenticity. “Basically because, even though there are so many furniture items in Animal Crossing, people tend to want to create the feeling that they’re home. They want tables, closets, chairs, and yes you’ve heard it: kitchens.” The ironwood kitchenette makes for a vital component in fulfilling the dream of home ownership. That is, ownership of a somewhat realistic home, as opposed to one filled with giant clam shell beds and knock-off Godzilla statues.

Another subreddit member, Kimmy, echoes the affection, adding that desire stems from its versatility: “I think [it’s] because the ironwood series has multiple color customizations, and the design itself is modernised, yet includes a more traditional element with its inclusion of wood.” Those who wish can modify the hues of all items in the ironwood catalogue by selecting the lumbar it uses, whether birch, teak, walnut, oak, or old. This increases the chances it’ll fit with your chosen decor.

As well as its personalised quality, a player called GudraFree offers up several more compelling reasons for why the internet is currently awash with thirsty homewear memes: “The lack of similar furniture in the game, a modern design that’s appealing, and it being part of the ironwood set – one of the very few full sets in the game – meaning it has matching items that look good together. Also the recipe is given to every player by purchasing it in Nook’s Cranny, so every player is aware of its existence.” It’s there, taunting you, just out of reach.

While you can buy the plans from the Nook kids early, don’t be fooled by its apparent availability. Actually crafting the ironwood kitchenette is another matter entirely. That’s because on top of the required load of wood and iron, you’ll need a cutting board and ironwood dresser, too. These pieces of furniture are separate DIY recipes – two in a huge pool – and the only way to get them is pure luck. They might as well give you blueprints for the Penrose Steps.

You can scour beaches for bottles, shoot down balloons, shake trees to see what pops out (possibly getting stung by wasps in the process), and barge uninvited into other residents’ dwellings in the hope they’ll share a DIY recipe with you, but there’s no consistent way to obtain them. That is, if you play alone.

Venture online, however, and you’ll find a community poised to lend its services. Crazycatjuly says: “Someone helped me get the cutting board DIY so I could craft the kitchenette. It was a kind gesture from a stranger, so I felt quite happy. It’s nice when people do nice things for each other.” Crazycatjuly, in turn, paid this kindness forward. “I felt happy when a stranger helped me so I just wanted to make someone else happy.” Babypenguin00 similarly spreads the love, saying: “I’ve already given all of my friends one of their own!” The ironwood kitchenette is bringing people together. Nothing says ‘I like you’ like the gift of a new house fitting.

Where some provide freely, others want to profit. “It takes a lot of resources to make,” says MenardiParty, “so I do charge a bit for it, but never unfair prices.” It’s understandable. Just because you’re making buddies doesn’t mean you can’t make bank. Search ‘ironwood kitchenette’ on Twitter on you’ll even find players using it as the grand prize in auspicious giveaways: to be in with a chance of winning, simply like, retweet, and tag a friend. Some of these competitions have amassed upwards of four thousand likes. If you want clout, think about investing in virtual kitchen fixtures. It’s the talk of the town.

✨KITCHEN + IRONWOOD RECIPES GIVEAWAY✨

my first animal crossing giveaway!
one winner will receive everything in this picture,
& the ENTIRE ironwood set diy + cuttingboard diy!

🐚follow me!
🌙retweet & like this post!
🦋tag a friend for an extra entry!

ends on april 27th! ♡ pic.twitter.com/CuU2YRqzgm

— 𝒕𝒆𝒂 🍃 giveaway pinned! (@teafuIIy) April 22, 2020

But there’s one final, darker way of getting the ironwood kitchenette: time travelling. Manipulate the Switch’s clock and you can up your chances of encountering one via the methods mentioned. It’s a divisive practice, but difficult to resist if you’ve got a specific item in mind. “If you are a solo player, I can see this being the only viable option to craft specific items,” says Kimmy. As for GudraFree, “I like to get the tick on every recipe for crafting it at least once, and this one is going to haunt me for a while it seems.” You may time travel to make your house more liveable, but could you live with yourself?

Supatodie says: “I would never time travel to get furniture, simply because I feel like obtaining furniture in a natural way is way more fun. It gives you more creativity since you’ll have to make something good out of the selection of furniture items you’ve obtained.” That’s why the ironwood kitchenette is so openly coveted. Rather than discordantly mixing miscellaneous items, you can use it, and its wider furniture family, to give your room a consistent theme. “I’ll probably use it too in a kitchen if there aren’t any good-looking sinks in my possession by then,” says GudraFree.

For scores of players right now, the ironwood kitchenette is how to make a house a home. Spiritual fulfilment, it appears, takes the form of a polished wooden work surface. But the journey won’t end there. Once you’ve snagged your coveted item, you move onto the next one. And the next.

After successfully obtaining their dream kitchen, GudraFree is currently “looking for a modern-looking king size bed, but I’m not even sure it exists in this game.” Babypenguin00, meanwhile, wants “more food-specific items. For example, the old game had a box of pizza.” And Menardi Party says: “The moon chair and the wall-mounted 50-inch TVs are both on my wish list.” That list, seemingly, is neverending.

Animal Crossing is nothing if not the relentless pursuit of home improvement. Right now, the ironwood kitchenette is Animal Crossing’s white whale, an elusive beast driving players to ecstasy and despair. It’s a phenomenon. An obsession. And it ties the room together quite nicely.

The post The obsessive hunt for Animal Crossing’s most notorious item – the ironwood kitchenette appeared first on VG247.

As Westworld heads into the homestretch of its third season, HBO has officially ordered a fourth installment of the popular sci-fi series. The penultimate episode of season three is set to air this Sunday, April 26, likely setting the table for a potentially explosive finale—if the final minutes of last week’s episode…

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The State’s left us with no shortage of incredible sketches—“Monkey Torture,” “Taco Man”—but few were as ambitious and fully realized as “Porcupine Racetrack,” a sketch we once described as “a little bit My Fair Lady, a little bit West Side Story, a little bit The Sting” and a perfect encapsulation of the troupe’s…

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The first photos from Denis Villeneuve’s Dune arrived online last week, giving eager cinephiles their first look at the filmmaker’s ambitious new adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic. While Film Twitter excitedly weighed in on one of this year’s most anticipated releases (fingers crossed), there was one person…

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While picking out items for your home in Animal Crossing: New Horizons might seem serene on the surface, bubbling underneath is a prescriptive force – the Happy Home Academy (HHA) – ready and waiting to judge your efforts and dish out points based on style, placement, and Feng Shui.

Happily for us though, acing these tests doesn’t just net the satisfaction of a job well done – but rewards as well. There are B, A, and S ranks to gather, which get more difficult to obtain as you continue to upgrade your house – while you can collect bronze, silver and gold tiers of HHA rewards.

While there’s a lot of nerdy minutiae you can dig into if you want to max out your score, we’ll try and keep everything as clear and actionable as possible. If you stick to a few simple tenets, getting enough points for an S rank isn’t actually that difficult.

With that said though, the HHA Gold Trophy can be quite elusive, and you’ll probably need a fully upgraded house before you can stuff your abode with enough decorations to acquire it.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Happy Home Academy guide – the basics

Before we get into the real nitty gritty of maxing out your HHA rank, here’s a simple checklist if you’re just trying to stick to best practices and hit a regular S rank.

These general rules will keep your score high and the Home Academy inspectors happy. Many have them have been in previous Animal Crossing games, as well as New Horizons:

• Don’t be afraid to use a lot of furniture items – you get points for each one. But don’t feel like you need to fill every single tile
• Use furniture pieces from the same set to get set bonuses – eg. Wooden-block table and chair -if you can fit all of the items from one set in the same room, then that’s extra good
• Try to stick to items that are the same color within one room
• Designate side rooms for a specific purpose, like a kitchen or bathroom, to match similar items like sinks and toilets
• Decorate the walls and floor with rugs and wallpaper from Saharah
• HHA Rewards seem to give you a lot of points if you hang them up/put them on a table
• Use seasonal items – like Bunny Day furniture – for easy sets
• Don’t leave furniture items with an obvious front – like a sofa – facing the wall
• Don’t let trash items like old tires, boots, and tin cans litter your floor
• Don’t leave your house unattended for more than a month, or you’ll get cockroaches!

Most of those ideas are easy to follow without knowing the exact science behind their working. To get a good HHA S Rank, you just need to have a well put together house that tries to keep its theme consistent, without having too few pieces of furniture.

Keeping all of this in mind when you design your house will probably land you at least an A rank, maybe even an S depending on the size of your house. The official Animal Crossing: New Horizons Companion Guide (linked) – which is a beautiful and helpful resource that you should definitely look into getting hold of – reports the thresholds for B, A, and S ranks for each size of house, as the following:

House Size:	Points needed for S rank	Points needed for A rank	Points needed for B rank
First House	15,000	10,000-14,999	0-9999
Upgraded House	23,000	17,000-22,999	0-16,999
House with 1 extra room on the back	35,000	25,000-34,999	0-24,999
House with extra room on back and to the left	47,000	38,000-46,999	0-37,999
House with extra rooms on the back, left, and right	60,000	50,000-59,000	0-49,000
House with a second floor	75,000	64,000-74,999	0-63,999
House with a second floor and basement	90,000	80,000-89,999	0-79,000

This information comes directly from Animal Crossing: New Horizons files, so you can count on its accuracy – at least in the vanilla release of the game.

So while you can’t go too far wrong with the checklist above, it might not nab you that coveted golden trophy. The official companion guide also reports the bands for the HHA plaques and trophies as the following:

• Gold HHA Trophy – 150,000 points
• SIlver HHA Trophy – 100,000 points
• Bronze HHA Trophy – 70,000 points
• Gold HHA Plaque – 50,000 points
• Silver HHA Plaque – 30,000 points
• Bronze HHA Plaque – 20,000 points
• HHA Pennant – 10,000 points

To net those 150,000 points, you’re going to have to bring out the big guns.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons HHA guide – Bonuses

To maximise your HHA score, you need to incorporate specific bonuses into your interior design. Some of these we’ve already mentioned, but some aren’t as obvious.

It’d be very difficult to get all of them into every one of your rooms, so don’t get hung up on doing everything exactly right.

Again according to the official companion, there are 9 types of bonuses you can apply to your score:

• Complete Set Bonus:

As we said before, if you can manage to fit the entirety of a furniture set into a room, this will net a big bonus for your HHA score.

• Theme Bonus:

Themes are similar to sets, but give bonuses for items which are made out of similar materials rather than being exactly the same. For example, the DIY cherry speakers and pear wardrobe aren’t from the same set but both fit a “fruit” theme. This also goes for items which use flowers in a “flowers” theme and so on.

• Type Bonus:

You receive this bonus for having all of the basic types of items which serve a purpose and you can interact with inside your house. This includes a bed where you can sleep, a chair to sit on, a table to put things on, and a wardrobe to change your clothes.

• Category Bonus:

The Category Bonus rewards you for having a varied assortment of furniture in a room. Essentially, things like potted plants, musical instruments, and clocks are all different categories of items, and the more categories you add to a room the greater the bonus.

• Seasonal and Lucky Item Bonus:

Check the Seasonal tab of your DIY registry on your NookPhone to see which items are currently in. If there’s an in-game event happening, then you’ll get a bonus for that too. Lucky items are usually made of gold – like the giant robot hero you make out of rusted parts – also give you a bonus.

• Interior Design Bonus:

The Interior Design Bonus rewards you for creating vibrant rooms with lots of items. To receive it, you need to have more than 20 unique furniture items in a room, with at least 3 things hanging from the wall.

• Situation Bonus:

Again like we mentioned earlier it can be good to give rooms a designated use, so it’s easier to group similar items together for a Situation Bonus. While some are more obvious, like bathroom, living room, and musical items. Others – like spooky items, fitness equipment, expensive, and space-styled items – are very similar to the Theme Bonus. Just remember to keep your thread consistent.

• Color Bonus:

The more items of a particular color you can cram into a room give you a cumulative, coordinated bonus!

• Feng Shui Bonus:

Also concerned with color, Feng Shui has long been part of Animal Crossing design. To satisfy this bonus, you need to put certain colored items in specific places around a room. We’ll cover exactly where below.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Feng Shui – how does it work?

Just like in Animal Crossing games of the past, in New Horizons the principles of Feng Shui dictate that you should:

• Place green items at the bottom of a room
• Place yellow items on the left hand side of a room
• Place red items on the right hand side of a room
• Leave some space in the middle clear

This includes the wall space on those three walls. So you should hang green items on the bottom wall, yellow items on the left wall, and red items on the right wall.

You get extra points if the entire section of the room only contains the right color of item, but the bonus isn’t that high – so Feng Shui is really only for master designers.

The most important bonuses are probably Set and Theme since they give the biggest point scores with comparatively little effort.

To get enough bells to buy and craft all of this furniture, you’ll need to get foraging! Here are our lists of all of the bug prices, and all of the fish prices in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

While if you’re looking for more activities to pass the time, look forward to the upcoming Nature event and introduction of an Art Gallery!

The post Animal Crossing: New Horizons Happy Home Academy and Feng Shui guide- how to get an S rank appeared first on VG247.

It’s Monday (or so we’re told), and Warner Bros. is kicking the week off with something pretty exciting: Our first official look at Dune, Denis Villeneuve’s ambitious new adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel. While the previous logo artwork left us confused about the film’s actual title—is it... Dunc?…

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The Friday the 13th franchise is headed into the world of board games for the very first time with Friday the 13th: Horror at Camp Crystal Lake, coming this summer from The Op Games!

In this anxiety-driven, press-your-luck horror game, players take on the roles of cliché camp counselors like the stereotypical Nerd, the Partier, the Nice Guy, the Final Girl, the Diva, and the Jock as they must rely on chance and strategy to survive five nights being terrorized by blood-thirsty Jason.

Coveted tools of survival are just within your reach to randomly draw from a camp bag: cast iron pans, gasoline, cleavers, flashlights and more. Collect them to make various combinations for points and use additional Fear cards for ways to escape his Attacks.

You only have strategy and supplies to keep you alive, but the odds of returning safely to the camp get slimmer with every turn! Steal supplies from your friends, take them with you to the cabin, or keep what you find and wait out the nights to be the last one standing!

Full game contents include:

• 6 Player Boards
• 1 Cabin Board
• 10 Critical Supply Cards
• 6 Backpack Cards
• 64 Fear Cards
• 88 Blood Spatter Tokens
• 6 Escape Tokens
• 6 Player Tokens
• 1 Night Tracker
• 67 Supply Tokens
• 1 Camp Bag
• 1 Rulebook

The game invades store shelves this summer, with a listed price of $29.99.

We were pretty sure that no new Friday the 13th merchandise could be released at this time due to the current legal issues plaguing the franchise, so this is quite the welcome surprise!

Genuine human cleverness is a rare and beautiful thing. (Certainly, it’s been in short supply of late in the home office/bedroom/quarantine bunker in which I do the vast majority of my A.V. Club work.) There’s a pleasure to watching someone come up with, and then execute, a really excellent idea that’s hard to…

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247Sports

The Longhorns were one of Williams’ final three schools.

Shaka Smart’s squad won’t feature two talents named Donovan Williams next season.

On Monday evening, exactly one week after trimming his list to a top three featuring the Texas Longhorns, Oklahoma State Cowboys, and Kansas State Wildcats, the Lincoln (Neb.) North Star shooting guard announced that he’ll be taking his talents to Stillwater.

A former Nebraska pledge, Williams committed to the home-state Cornhuskers early in the process, but decommitted in December after he began receiving more interest following the early signing period, including from Texas — the Longhorns have been evaluating Williams for some time, with Smart and his staff taking several visits to see the consensus three-star prospect.

Nevertheless, despite that effort from the Texas staff, Williams ultimately elected to suit up in another shade of orange — thus, he’ll also suit up against the Horns at least twice each season for as long as he remains in Stillwater.

That said, considering the current roster landscape, Texas has only one scholarship available, and the Longhorns will undoubtedly leave that offer open in anticipation of the upcoming decision of five-star Vandegrift forward Greg Brown, who’s set to announce on April 24. At this juncture, it’s widely expected that Brown will remain local and become a Longhorn.

So despite missing on the nation’s No. 28 shooting guard prospect, per the 247Sports Composite, what appeared to be limited to just a one-man class for Texas is still in an ideal position with the top target on Texas’ board likely staying home.

Kenneth Copeland’s been flexing his prosperity gospel grift for decades now, his unhinged gesticulations, signature roar, and claims of divine interaction having made him a superstar of the Christian right. But, hoo boy, this guy’s really come alive in the age of the coronavirus, as he’s made news both for his…

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Neon Genesis Evangelion is no stranger to crossovers — from graphic novels to video games, the Japanese mecha anime series has popped up everywhere. And now it’s been given the Tamagotchi treatment. First rumored back in December 2019, the Evangelion...

The coronavirus pandemic and its resulting quarantine counter-measures have people around the world shuttered in their homes with little to do but fret. So it’s not surprising that a March survey from the American Psychiatric Association found that t...

Sam Raimi’s 50 States Of Fright had yet to debut on Quibi when we did our initial roundup of reviews, but you can be damn sure we’d have discussed “The Golden Arm” if it had. The episode of Raimi’s horror anthology, which brings to life folk tales native to the United States, is currently cracking up folks online…

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Monday offered us our first look at Timothée “Sad Boy” Chalamet’s Paul Atreides, the protagonist of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi epic, Dune, as adapted by Arrival director and Academy darling Denis Villeneuve. Today, Vanity Fair is chasing that appetizer with a whole damn meal, peppered liberally with the story’s…

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With the plot of Fallout 76’s first NPC storyline thickening, it’s time to locate Duchess’ missing muscle in the Strength in Numbers quest.

While a lot of this quest is pretty straightforward, you’ll either need a lockpicking skill of 1, or Strength at 4 to complete it in the same way we did.

We’re going off the assumption that you agreed to help find the treasure in the earlier Hunter for Hire quest, and are on the trail of Crane’s bounty whether you decided to kill Roper and co or not.

Fallout 76 – Strength in Numbers quest guide

To get started with the Strength in Numbers leg of the story, speak to Duchess at The Wayward.

She’ll set you after her hired muscle: Sol and machine bestie, Polly. Thanks to her mechanical nature, Polly is fitted with a tracker you can use to locate the pair.

Head outside, then get out your Pip-Boy and go to radio tab.

This brings up a circular marker to the northeast on your map. Follow that marker.

Once you get to your destination, you’ll find a pile of Scorched corpses. At the top of the pile, open the note on one of the Scorched.

This updates your map to have an objective at the Gauley Mine to the north. Head to the mine, clear out the Scorched, and head inside.

Follow the linear path – and grab a pickaxe and mine some coal for a nice bit of xp if you fancy it.

Talk to Sol at the bottom of the mine and give him a stimpack if you like.

After your conversation, go through the narrow path next to him to save Polly.

Deal with the scorched in the passageway, then the four in the next room. Head down to the bottom of this room and through another narrow passageway at its base to advance.

Now, pick up Polly’s head and blast the onrushing Scorched.

When they’re all fried, fast travel from the mine back to The Wayward.

Speak to the assembled characters, then go into your inventory and equip Polly’s head.

Place the head on the jug when prompted, then agree to go and grab a new body.

Fallout 76 – Find a pristine Assaultron body in Strength in Numbers

Fast travel south to Summerville if you’ve been there before.

There are a lot of the Eagle gang around but it’s best to just take out the ones you need to deal with, and go through the front door of the marked robotics shop.

Inside, scan the card reader and enter; now talk to Skinner on the front desk.

In the conversation, you can intimidate him if your Strength is 4 or higher.

Either way, head upstairs via the staircase behind him and either use the card reader or pick the skill 1 lock.

In the next room, don’t touch the red beams – just don’t do it.

Fallout 76 – Strength in Numbers Assaultron Showroom door key code

This gives you access to some Handy bodies for Polly but she won’t be best pleased if you send her one.

For the pristine Assaultron body, you either need to pick the skill 3 lock on the far side of the Handy showroom, or look on the left-hand side of the room.

There’s a hole in the wall here which leads to an attic.

In the attic, you’ll find a note. Pick it up, and in conjunction with the nearby holotape, you’ll find out the shop owner was a fan of the number 88888.

This means that the door key code for the Assaultron showroom is: 88888.

Place the tag on the pristine Assaultron body inside, then return to The Wayward.

Talk to Polly, deliver the good news, and the quest is complete!

If you’re just jumping into Fallout 76 – here’s our beginner’s guide.

The post Fallout 76: Strength in Numbers Guide – Assaultron showroom door code appeared first on VG247.

Bloody Disgusting can confirm THR‘s breaking news that the filmmaking team behind Sundance Film Festival sensation The Night House are reuniting to tackle Spyglass Media’s re-imagining of 1980s horror classic, Hellraiser.

David Bruckner, who directed Night House and The Ritual as well as sections of Bloody Disgusting’s horror anthologies V/H/S and Southbound, will helm the feature which will have a screenplay by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski.

Collins & Piotrowski were behind our V/H/S spinoff, SiREN, as well as the phenomenal coming-of-age thriller Super Dark Times. The duo also scripted The Sisters of Samhain, Bloody and Fangoria’s forthcoming collaboration to be directed by SiREN‘s Gregg Bishop.

David Goyer, one of the producers of Night House, is writing the story and producing via his Phantom Four banner alongside Keith Levine.

Hellraiser was written and directed by Clive Barker, adapting his own novella, The Hellbound Heart. As explained by THR, the 1987 movie introduced audiences to a puzzle box that opens a gateway to a horrific world and unleashes Cenobites, mutilated beings dedicated to torture and led by one nicknamed Pinhead.

Spyglass is also developing the next Scream with other V/H/S and Southbound filmmakers, Radio Silence, who also helmed the hilarious horror comedy Ready or Not.

BATMOBILEのスケッチ pic.twitter.com/iE0rLsN2Vn

— Taku Inoue (@inouetable) April 10, 2020

Illustrated covers for Columbo novelizations from Japan, 1989 pic.twitter.com/kb6FKfoC9b

— Brandon Schaefer (@seekandspeak) April 9, 2020

09 - The Horned King / Black Cauldron pic.twitter.com/9A5dgLl5UH

— Paul Briggs (@_paul_briggs_) April 9, 2020

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A fanart of Geralt for my friends over at CDProjekt, had the pleasure of being invited to their studio in Warsaw last year and I'm super excited for Cyberpunk 2077! pic.twitter.com/mnsicjaF6y

— Johnson Ting (@johnsontingart) April 5, 2018

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— Andy Greiling (@andy_greiling) April 8, 2020

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#lostboys #david #sketchart #ashleywitter

A post shared by Ashley Marie Witter (@ashleymwitter) on Apr 10, 2020 at 7:45am PDT

There are five hours left for you to pick up my #project2020 Rickey Henderson baseball card from @topps before it is GONE FOREVERhttps://t.co/d7Ts8Rrbsj pic.twitter.com/70IHi9Bsl1

— Matt Taylor (@MattTaylorDraws) April 10, 2020

Destiny... pic.twitter.com/r2jJXbSOtA

— Beware, A Mad Wizard (@JHWilliamsIII) April 8, 2020

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— toki (@tvchany) April 8, 2020

Saban Films heads back to 1988 with the upcoming Satanic Panic horror flick We Summon the Darkness, directed by Marc Meyers (My Friend Dahmer) and headed to VOD next week.

We Summon the Darkness arrives on VOD and Digital HD on April 10, 2020.

Summon forth the official poster art down below!

Meagan Navarro reviewed We Summon the Darkness for us last year at Fantastic Fest, calling it a “metal mayhem joyride.”

Alexandra Daddario (Texas Chainsaw 3D) stars in the film, centered on a group of friends caught in the middle of a killing spree by murderous Satanists who have already left 18 dead.

“Three best friends Alexis (Daddario), Val and Beverly embark on a road trip to a heavy metal music festival. Naive, they bond with three seemingly fun-loving dudes and soon the group heads off to Alexis’ country home, a very secluded place, for an afterparty. What should be a night of fun and youthful debauchery may instead take a dark, deadly turn. With killers on the loose, can anyone be trusted?”

Cast also includes Alita: Battle Angel‘s Keean Johnson, “Jackass” star Johnny Knoxville, Maddie Hasson (God Bless America), and Amy Forsyth (“Channel Zero: Dream Door”).

While Hammer Studios has been in business since 1934, it was between 1955 and 1979 that it towered as one of the premier sources of edgy, gothic horror. On top of ushering the famous monsters of Universal’s horror heyday back into the public eye, resurrecting the likes of Frankenstein, Dracula and the Mummy in vivid color, the studio invited performers like Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Ingrid Pitt and so many more to step into the genre limelight. Spanning a library housing over 300 films, Hammer Studios is a key part of horror history that until recently has been far too difficult to track down.

In late 2018, Shout Factory’s Scream Factory line began to focus on bringing Hammer’s titles to disc in the US, finally making many of the studio’s underseen gems available in packages that offered great visuals as well as insightful accompanying features. Over the course of this column, I will focus on these releases, gauging the films in context of the Hammer Studio story as well as analyzing the merits of the release. It’s time to highlight the power, impact and influence of Hammer Studios and ignite new conversation surrounding some forgotten classics.

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The Context

By the mid 1970’s, Hammer Studios was struggling to find relevance and purpose in a dramatically changing entertainment industry. Films like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), The Exorcist (1973) and Night of the Living Dead (1968) had established a fresh, raw and palpably visceral style of horror filmmaking, while Hammer’s gothic, classical sensibilities had grown decidedly stale in the eyes of the average moviegoer.

Less costly, safer avenues like television series became the studio’s focus, Hammer proposing an anthology titled The Devil and all His Works based on the novels of best selling British horror writer Dennis Wheatley. Having acquired access to his vast library some years prior due to a combination of the author’s longtime friendship with Hammer staple Christopher Lee and the success of Hammer’s previous adaptation of his novel The Devil Rides Out (1968), the series would have featured short adaptations of his Satanic works in an effort to capitalize on the subject’s popularity in the wake of the success of The Exorcist.

The series fell through, but one particular episode emerged as a standout effort that both the studio and Christopher Lee felt passionate about bringing to life: To the Devil… a Daughter. A dark, enigmatic look at the occult through Hammer’s heady lens, the script deviated dramatically from the novel while maintaining its spirit. It was to be Hammer’s attempt at a more modern horror film, an unflinching look at the violent, sexual and uncontrollable nature of the dark arts and the dangers that lie within for those who come in contact with it.

The film was a commercial success. Despite attacks from critics regarding its tastefulness, the film emerged as Hammer’s most profitable effort from the 1970s. Still, the British film industry was failing. The majority of the budget had come from German investors and, as a result, the bulk of the film’s profits were sapped from Hammer’s bottom line.

In the end, To the Devil… A Daughter would emerge as one of Hammer’s final feature length films. A flawed attempt to make a forward looking picture that honored their past. Had it paid off and the British film industry been in a healthier place, the film would have lead to a new decade and a new face for Hammer Studios. As it was, what was intended as the start of something new became one of the final nails in Hammer’s coffin; and over 20 years of horror cinema dominance came to a close.

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The Film

“98 percent of so called Satanists are nothing but pathetic freaks, who get their kicks out of dancing naked in freezing church yards and use the devil as an excuse for getting some sex. But then there is that other 2 percent…”

Father Michael Rayner (Christopher Lee) is preparing a young nun named Catherine (Nastassja Kinski) for a journey to London. Theirs is a particular sect known as the Children of the Lord and their church resembles most Catholic churches with one, glaring omission: no cross bares the image of Christ.

At the same time, an American occult writer named John Verney (Richard Widmark) receives a phone call from a man named Henry Beddows (Denholm Elliott). The man asks John to pick up Catherine at the airport, insisting that she stay with him instead of her religious order. Confused but enticed at the promise of fodder for a future cultist novel, John agrees and enters into a dark world of black magic and danger that he failed to anticipate.

To the Devil… A Daughter is a movie that feels like the culmination of 70’s occult exploitation cinema. It’s the sort of film that offers just as many long, plot-based conversations involving men drinking scotch as they pace around their studies as it does orgies, demon fetuses and trippy spells of hypnotic POV tracking shots. It’s messy at times and downright offensive at others but there’s no denying it’s a powerful and effective entry in Satanic, cultist horror and one of Hammer’s better installments post-1970.

Most of the film concerns Richard Widmark’s character’s attempt to decipher the level of danger young Catherine is in. Widmark, apparently a nightmare on set due to his low-pay and the marred, poorly executed production, turns in a detailed and nuanced performance. He’s intense and empathetic, allowing the character to go through a real change as he transitions from an atheist leaning opportunist to a cursed true believer.

Opposite Widmark is Christopher Lee’s Father Michael Rayner, excommunicated Roman Catholic Priest and leader of the Children of the Lord. Lee is phenomenal in the role, this feeling like a better conclusion to his seven movie Hammer Dracula stretch than The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) did. It’s an ethereal character, relishing in evil, believing in it, and there are many times where his form feels more akin to a true extension of the darkness than an actual human being.

Then there’s Nastassja Kinski’s Catherine, a quiet, polite nun waiting patiently to fulfill her purpose in the Children of the Lord’s master plan to resurrect a demon named Astaroth. An obvious combination of Regan from The Exorcist (1973) and Rosemary from Rosemary’s Baby (1968), Kinksi does well enough, however the whole affair is damaged significantly knowing that the girl was only 14 when she took the role (despite signing on as 17). Given that she appears nude toward the end, this fact marks a deplorable oversight that damages the film in irreparable ways.

The plot is convoluted and often confusing, building toward a conclusion for Catherine’s character that seems to shift constantly during the last act. Worse, most changes seem to occur for shock value, shoehorning in grotesque imagery that fails to elicit fear and instead generates off-putting disgust. These issues are most apparent in the film’s abrupt ending, which discards original footage in lieu of a hastily explained conclusion due to a dispute between producers.

As with many films of its time, determining its worth is a complicated venture. On the one hand, director Peter Sykes made an expertly crafted film that feels raw, intense and visceral— visually distinct amongst Hammer’s milieu. On the other, the plot-heavy proceedings bog down the characters and leave viewers scratching their heads more often than engaging with the narrative.

What’s undeniable is, as a whole, the film works as a potent dive into the occult. It feels as dangerous as it should, built on performances that resonate and visuals that stick in the mind’s eye long after the credits complete their elegy.

To the Devil… A Daughter is a film that trades in subtlety almost as much as it deals in crass exploitation. A movie clearly torn between more modern, hyper-realistic filmmaking techniques and the reserved, tried-and-true methodologies that had helped Hammer Studios rise to the top decades before. While problematic to say the least, it’s a fascinating exploration of the vile, destructive forces that lie in evil’s shadow and one of the better entries in the era of post-Exorcist satanic spins.

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Scream Factory’s Bonus Features

Previously released by Studiocanal in 2018 on Region B Blu-ray in the UK, this release comes equipped with the same studio master. Bolstering colors that pop and rich levels of contrast which maintain a fine level of grain, the transfer provides the proceedings with a distinctly cinematic quality. The DTS-HD Master Mono track is equally deserving of praise, offering clear sound and crisp distinction between voice, effects and the unsettling score which dominates the film’s runtime.

Audio Commentary by Steve Haberman and Constantine Nasr (New)

Having previously recorded a commentary track for Hammer’s 1968 Dennis Wheatley adaptation The Devil Rides Out, historians and filmmakers Steve Haberman and Constantine Nasr return here to provide the disc with its only new special feature.

Their conversation is engaging and informative, running through a brief history of Dennis Wheatley’s work and his relationship with both Christopher Lee and Hammer Studios (including the author’s discontent with the finished picture). They cover the troubled production, the screenwriting process as it compares to previous Hammer films and films at the time and technical feats accomplished in the filmmaking process.

Interesting tidbits aside (at one point Richard Dreyfuss was courted for the John Verney character! Hammer reached out to Ken Russell to direct!), the two also don’t shy away from their issues with the film. They discuss the unforgivable problems associated with Nastassja Kinski’s casting, the confusing story elements and poorly executed ending, amongst other things, tying it all together as they discuss Hammer’s ultimate demise as a studio.

It’s a worthwhile discussion that broadens appreciation for the film as a whole, while providing deeper insight into all that went into its existence. Hammer enthusiasts and those new to the studio will both walk away with something to think about.

Dark Arts: Inside To the Devil… A Daughter (18:58)

(2017 UK documentary produced by Studiocanal)

A series of interviews between film historians Jonathan Rigby, Kevin Lyons and John J. Johnston as they discuss the troubled production of the film and how it relates to the end of Hammer’s horror run for some time. Amongst topics of note discussed are the works of Dennis Wheatley and his disgust with the film, the state of the British film industry at the time, the caliber of the performances and Paul Glass’ highly experimental score. It’s a brief, informative feature that quickly outlines many of the topics discussed in the commentary (and other features found on the disc) and serves as a Cliff-Notes rundown of the film’s creation and place in Hammer’s catalogue.

To the Devil… The Death of Hammer (23:52)

(2002 documentary produced by Blue Underground & Anchor Bay)

A more in depth making-of feature, with interviews from many of the cast and crew members including director Peter Sykes, Christopher Lee, Honor Blackman, producer Roy Skeggs and more. Similar to Dark Arts, the feature chronicles the creation of the film but in greater detail owing to the fact that many of the individuals who took part are present to recount their stories. While it certainly glosses over some of the messier elements (Nastassja Kinski’s casting, for example), those present are honest and open about what went right and what went wrong.

Filled with fun anecdotes (the attempted casting of Klaus Kinski and why it didn’t work out, for example) and meaningful insight, the feature is a worthwhile venture that provides substance to one’s understanding and appreciation of the film.

Theatrical Trailer (2:12)

The theatrical trailer, in HD, which begins by calling out Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist “and now THIS”.

A classic Hammer horror trailer that promises the world, regardless of whether it’s actually able to deliver it.

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Final Thoughts

To the Devil… A Daughter speaks to the transparent issue regarding the turbulent nature of a film studio attempting to change with the times while holding tight to the past. Still, in retrospect, it is difficult to deny its uncanny effectiveness, the dread which penetrates every frame that holds Christopher Lee’s calculating visage and the urgency Richard Widmark carries into every scene.

Its legacy is as complicated as its production. Credited as being the film which killed Hammer, it was financially successful. Mauled by critics and the author of the novel it was based on, it stuck with audiences and played better and more profitably than any of Hammer’s known franchise titles at the time (including any of Christopher Lee’s Dracula outings post-1970).

All of that aside, Scream Factory delivers the disc with both previously released features and a new commentary that informs and entertains. The picture and audio quality is impressive and fans of Hammer and horror alike should be pleased with the treatment.

In a film that can be tasteless and silly in one scene and authoritatively compelling in the next, judging its overall merit is difficult. In the end, the film is an important part of Hammer’s history, showcasing much of what its best films are capable of as well as some of the opportunities present in its worst. What’s left is a disorienting, technically well-crafted excursion into the occult, and one of the better films in its chosen sub-genre at that.

Good, bad or indifferent, it’s a film worth seeking out and an interesting beginning to a new chapter of Hammer Horror that will always be left unfinished.