Emahlstadt

There are so many ways to explore the Columbo spirit. Here are three:

1. Language
Try out Columbo’s cornerstone phrases in your own life. “Isn’t that interesting?” is a very powerful phrase to key into your detective self. It immediately puts you in a mindset of curiosity - and delight! I use this phrase especially when I encounter a disagreement between me and another person.

Columbo also uses a lot of phrases of appreciation - “what a honey!” being my favorite. It can feel very good to take of bite of something and make a big Columbo deal out of how good it is.

all 69 episodes from its seven seasons and all 24 television movies are together in this 34-disc anthology

*Keep up with our ongoing end of the year coverage here*

Thanks primarily to NECA, we horror fans are the luckiest we’ve ever been on the collectibles front, as kickass new horror toys are almost literally released every single week these days. So when we look back on an entire year, needless to say, picking a “Top 10” is no easy task.

But now that the year is coming to a close, we combed through this year’s archives to dig up the 10 best horror toys that were released between January 1 and December 31, and we’re pretty happy with the list we came up with. Again, it’s almost entirely a “Top 10 NECA Horror Toys” list, but Funko also made the cut this year for a couple of really cool offerings.

So let’s get on with it, shall we?!

In no particular order…

A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors Accessory Pack – NECA

We’re kicking off the list with one of this year’s most recent releases, an accessory pack from NECA that pays tribute to the most beloved sequel in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, director Chuck Russell’s Dream Warriors. The pack, which is in scale with NECA’s 7″ figures, includes two “Elm Street” signs (Regular and “Nightmare” versions), as well as “Freddy TV” and “Freddy Worm” display pieces that allow you to recreate two of the most iconic nightmares from the third installment. Now we just need the Dream Warriors to go along with it!

Michael Myers, Halloween (2018) – NECA

Slasher icon Michael Myers got a pitch perfect 40-years-later makeover for David Gordon Green’s Halloween, and NECA absolutely nailed the look with their action figure. Equipped with “heart eyes” jack-o’lantern, severed head and Judith Myers tombstone props, NECA’s Myers 2018 figure includes two heads and the Shape’s trusty knife, and it’s part of their “Ultimate” line of deluxe edition action figures. The head sculpts perfectly capture the movie’s redesigned mask, and the figure is all around one of the best Michael Myers toys ever made.

Chucky POP! Vinyl Toy, Child’s Play 2 – Funko (Hot Topic Exclusive)

The folks over at Funko are obviously massive horror fans, and their POP! vinyl toys of our favorite icons often take deep cut inspiration from the franchises they call home. Take, for example, this year’s Hot Topic Exclusive POP! toy of battle-damaged Chucky from Child’s Play 2, based on the sequel’s kickass finale. “Chucky on Cart” depicts a bruised and bloody Chucky, with his legs missing and his right hand replaced by a knife. Now that’s one sequence from the franchise I never would’ve expected to see in the form of a POP! vinyl toy!

Ricky Chapman, Silent Night Deadly Night 2 – NECA/Scream Factory

Last year, Scream Factory and NECA joined forces to release a figure of Billy from Silent Night, Deadly Night that was initially exclusive to a deluxe Blu-ray set from Scream Factory, and that figure made last year’s list of our favorite horror toys. This year, Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2‘s “Ricky Claus” makes the cut for obvious reasons, similarly released as part of a Blu-ray package from Scream Factory. Yes, we’re living in a world where an official Eric Freeman action figure actually exists, and you’ve just gotta love that perfectly goofy head sculpt.

Another winning NECA/Scream Factory collaboration this year saw the release of the first ever figure of Angela from Night of the Demons, which probably belongs on the list too!

Nubbins Sawyer 2-pack, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1 & 2) – NECA

Portrayed by Edwin Neal in the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre, the Hitchhiker got his first action figure several years back courtesy of Mezco’s Cinema of Fear line. It’s a great figure, but it was totally one-upped by NECA with their “Hitchhiker/Nubbin’s Collector’s Set,” a two-pack that includes the first film’s Hitchhiker and his corpse from the 1986 sequel. The head sculpt on the original classic’s figure, in particular, is absolutely perfect, and the set is another wonderful example of NECA’s outside the box thinking. More fan service from true fans.

Captain William Blake, The Fog – NECA

If any figure on this list earns the title of being the biggest surprise of the year it’s no doubt this retro-style, clothed action figure of Captain William Blake from John Carpenter’s The Fog, an offering from NECA that it’s safe to say nobody saw coming. The figure was initially shown off ahead of Toy Fair and then was subsequently upgraded with glowing red LED eyes before its release later in the year, ensuring its inclusion on this list. Granted, it would’ve been on here no matter what, but the sinister glowing eyes really put this one over the top.

Savage World: Horror – Funko

I realize they’re not for everyone, but as someone who grew up playing with the classic Masters of the Universe toys, I absolutely love Funko’s “Savage World” line, shown off at Toy Fair back in February and then released over the summer. The line of 5.5″ figures reimagines the most iconic slasher villains as jacked up Masters of the Universe characters, and the translation results in an incredibly fun line of toys that are quite unlike any we’ve seen before. Funko combined two of my favorite things for this line, and for that I’ll forever love them.

Pennywise, IT (1990) – NECA

NECA released a handful of different Pennywise toys based on the 2017 film this year, including a deluxe edition figure and a GameStop Exclusive variant (more are on the way in 2019), so it was no easy task to pick a favorite from the bunch. But I was most impressed this year by NECA’s figure of the *original* iteration of Pennywise, of course played by Tim Curry in the 1990 mini-series adaptation of Stephen King’s terrifying novel. Classic Pennywise hasn’t gotten much love on the collectibles front over the years, so this one was great to see. As always, NECA nailed the look, paying “Ultimate” tribute to Curry’s nightmare clown.

Jason Voorhees, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning – NECA

NECA was the very first toy company to release a figure of Roy Burns from Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, and this year they returned to the polarizing fifth installment with an “Ultimate Part 5 Dream Sequence” figure of the film’s Jason Voorhees, highlighted by multiple different heads. One of those heads featured worms crawling out of the eye holes of Jason’s iconic hockey mask, while another was based on the film’s classic VHS art. Another “outside the box” figure from NECA that proves just how dedicated they are to making horror fans happy.

“Atomic Breath” Godzilla, Shin Godzilla – NECA

The nighttime-set “Atomic Breath” sequence from Shin Godzilla was legitimately one of the coolest things I’ve seen at the movies in recent years; the Big G unleashed the full fury of his might in the epic scene, opening his mouth wide and spitting straight fire into the city below. It was totally glorious, and NECA released this equally glorious figure based on that scene earlier this year. Equipped with “Atomic Blast” effects for both his mouth and tail, the new figure took their existing Shin Godzilla toy to a whole new level of jaw dropping awesomeness.

Honorable mentions include NECA’s Herbert West, Funko’s Part 2 Jason POP! vinyl toy, Mezco’s One:12 Michael Myers, and McFarlane’s “Stranger Things” x Ghostbusters set.

It’s been a long while since we last checked in on Hinterland Studio’s The Long Dark, a post-apocalyptic wilderness survival game that is in the midst of getting a film adaptation. The game officially left Steam Early Access last year, and is also available on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Now, in an almost unheard of event, the game is getting a complete overhaul.

Hinterland has decided to put the brakes on the release of the remaining episodes of its story mode, and are instead going back to improve the existing episodes with voice acting, rewritten dialogue, additional locations, a new mission structure. the result is “Wintermute Redux”, a free update that’s available now for current owners.

On Twitter, the game’s director Raphael van Lierop calls the move “a gamble”, which carries the understandable risk of alienating community support. “We invested in new tools and tech and learned a whole bunch of new skills so we could get better at delivering the experience we want to deliver. With every update we risk pissing off a bunch of our players just by virtue of changing…anything. Even if it’s for the better.”

However, as van Lierop states, you don’t get a lot of second chances in the game industry, and the thing that matters to him is to put out good work. “Sometimes you get it right the first time, but often you don’t. When something isn’t good, I want to make it better.”

As you can see from the trailer, the game has had some serious work done on it. From the story itself, the sandbox elements, to the new quests and challenges, nothing it seems has been left untouched. You can check out the changes on The Long Dark‘s Steam page.

Episode Three, which was scheduled for release this month, will now be unlocked in 2019.

In preparation for the trailer debut this coming Christmas, Universal Pictures has shared with EW the first ever photos from Jordan Peele‘s next genre film, Us, which has been shrouded in secrecy since first announced. Now, first details have been revealed and tease what will be a straight-up horror movie with a monster.

“For my second feature, I wanted to create a monster mythology,” Peele tells the magazine.

“I wanted to do something that was more firmly in the horror genre but still held on to my love of movies that are twisted but fun.”

The story is set in the present day and follows Adelaide and Gabe Wilson (Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke) as they take their kids to Adelaide’s old childhood beachside home in Northern California for the summer. After a day at the beach with the Tyler family (which includes Elisabeth Moss and Tim Heidecker), Adelaide — who’s haunted by a lingering trauma from her past — becomes increasingly more paranoid that something bad will happen to her family. As night falls, the Wilsons see four figures holding hands and standing silently at the bottom of their driveway…

Nyong’o adds: “it turns into this relentless nightmare that taps into [Adelaide’s] deepest fears and ours as well — the idea that we might be our own worst enemies.”

Peele and his cast are tight-lipped about the horrors that befall the Wilsons, but Peele does reveal to the magazine one key detail: The monsters in his movie are called the Tethered. 

Universal has dated Us for March 15, 2019.

*Keep up with our ongoing end of the year coverage here*

As 2018 comes to a close, we take a look at the very best monsters from the year’s film, television, video games, or wherever!

2018 was one of the better years for horror. Titles like Halloween, A Quiet Place, and Hereditary showed that outside of the superhero genre, some of the year’s biggest hits were horror titles. Even beyond film, it feels like horror has never been more popular and rampant in popular culture, with television, video games, and comics embracing the genre in new and exciting ways. 2018 delivered lots of new horror classics, but it also unleashed plenty of new monsters on unsuspecting audiences. Accordingly, here’s our breakdown of the year’s most terrifying and impressive monsters, from film, to comics, and beyond.

Pretzel Jack (Channel Zero: The Dream Door)

Channel Zero never fails to create truly terrifying creatures for each of its new stories, but The Dream Door’s season produces the strongest of nightmare fuel with Pretzel Jack. Pretzel Jack is a childhood imaginary friend that’s come to life and he operates with a disturbing level of flexibility and resilience. Better yet, the character’s movements are entirely without CG-assistance and benefit from “Twisty” Troy James’ limberness.

Like some of the best monsters out there, it feels like Pretzel Jack is invincible and The Dream Door’s story nicely evolves to a place where Pretzel Jack’s role as villain and ally is beautifully blurred. All of the monsters on this list are frightening, but Pretzel Jack is the only one whose mannerisms and gesticulations make you feel like you’re lost in some fever dream. He defies physics and horror is always at its best when it makes you go, “How?!” And that’s all to say nothing of the Crayon Kids!

The Shimmer’s Humanoid (Annihilation)

Alex Garland creates an exciting, unique psychological thriller that blends science fiction and horror together in an inspired way that’s not dissimilar from the hybrid DNA experiments that come out of the film. Annihilation sends a team into an unstable area known as “The Shimmer” where DNA blends and acts all wonky. There are lots of bizarre chimera-like creatures throughout the film, but the film’s final set piece that takes place within a cryptic lighthouse is by far the movie’s most unnerving sequence. Natalie Portman’s Lena squares off with a mercury-like humanoid that immediately conjures Virtua Fighter’s Dural to mind. This humanoid entity is attempting to copy and assimilate Lena and she’s forced to defend her existence. It’s a chilling sequence that’s all the more effective because it’s without dialogue and we never know exactly what the “Shimmer’s” goal is other than “creation.”

Paimon (Hereditary)

So granted, Paimon in his pure demon form may not exactly show up here, but the demon’s disciples are heavily pulling the strings to make sure that everything goes in his favor. Paimon himself is intimidating, but the number of devout followers that he has to do his bidding make this entity even more alarming. Ari Aster’s Hereditary is just straight up a scary film and so much of that has to do with the incredible performances from the movie and that it’s just as much a grueling family drama as it is a horror film. There’s also, of course, that scene, which will forever go down as an all-time classic scene in horror.

Hereditary makes Paimon’s slow possession of its host absolutely horrifying. They get no relief, the entire family is at this demon’s mercy, and even you as a viewer feel vulnerable. There is never relief from Paimon’s clutches, which is why the film is such a relentless experience. Hail Paimon, indeed.

The Jötunn (The Ritual)

The Ritual flew under the radar for many people, but this low-budget Netflix horror film from David Bruckner is an absolute gem and features an unforgettable monster. A simple hiking trip into the woods between old friends gradually takes a disturbing turn once The Ritual gets moving. The stripped down horror film juggles dark witchcraft, cults, and sacrifices to a deadly elk-like entity in exchange for immortality. This is also the kind of beast that might even creep out Hannibal’s antler-centric Wendigo. The film doesn’t shy away from showing you this creature, which makes for a welcome change of pace. Not only is the Jötunn strong, fast, and super scary, but it also has the ability to inflict its prey with hallucinations of their deepest insecurities. It’s a hell of a way to psych out your opponent and force them to submission. Jötunn don’t mess around.

The Peaches (Channel Zero: Butcher’s Block)

2018 was a mess for so many reasons, but hey, we got two seasons of Channel Zero this year, so silver linings and all that…

Hallucinations, deep concepts like a disturbing take on sacrifice and the idea of ignorance being bliss. The Peaches, led by Rutger Hauer’s Joseph Peach, are horrible for their manipulative, cannibalistic, eternal ways, but then the series also throws these awful Brood babies and a Meat Servant into the mix. They’re like if Clive Barker and Cabbage Patch Kids did a collaboration. These tiny nightmare warriors that roam outside when it’s dark out add a consistently dreadful tone to the series. Whether the Peaches or their creepy harbingers, there’s never safety. And don’t get me started on the worm-esque entities that muck around in these characters’ brains. Few things have gotten under my skin as much as Channel Zero: Butcher’s Block and its mind-disabling monsters. It’s such a twisted take on mental illness that finds new, nightmarish ways to explore what’s an already tragic topic.

Captain Wafner (Overlord)

Overlord operates like the very best kind of B-movie and plays into its silliness. The film is basically Wolfenstein meets H.P. Lovecraft and the movie’s gruesome monsters are born from a mysterious reanimation serum that’s found under the ground. The Nazis’ use of this serum results in some resilient zombie warriors that also have a habit for raging out and mutating without warning. There are many serum-spurred abominations that keep Private Boyce and company occupied, but the film’s major antagonist, SS Captain Wafner, injects himself with the serum while he’s still alive and the aftermath is gory bliss. Wafner’s exposed jaw and super strength make for such an exaggerated villain that culminates in a Terminator 2 type showdown between two mutated juggernauts. He’s the perfect pulpy monster for their story and Pilou Asbæk delivers such a memorable performance in the role.

Mater Suspiriorum (Suspiria)

Luca Guadagnino’s remake of Dario Argento’s horror classic is certainly a patient, methodical film, but by the end of the movie it truly feels like it’s cast a spell over you. For the majority of the film, Mother Suspiriorum works in the shadows, yet her presence is always felt. The dance sequences where her vengeance gets doled out are seriously difficult to watch. Death is one thing, but bones twisting, contorting, and breaking is a lot more painful of an experience, especially with the film’s stellar sound design. Mother Suspiriorum’s “big number” is saved for the film’s conclusion, but it’s one of the most dazzling sequences from out of any film of this year. The witch’s magic is unleashed and the film turns a massacre into a trippy, poetic take on retribution. Suspiria and Mater Suspiriorum’s talons will be sunk in you long after the film is over.

Michael Myers (Halloween)

2018 was an absolutely bonkers year for horror for the sheer fact that not only was there a Suspiria remake, but also a new sequel to Halloween and they were both really freaking good. The newest Halloween film took both the series and Michael Myers back to their roots and it was so extremely satisfying to get a bad-ass version of The Shape wielding the knife once more. Let’s be honest, Halloween is much more a showcase and love letter to Laurie Strode and Jamie Lee Curtis, but this is a fierce, unrepentant version of Michael that hasn’t been present for ages. Busta Rhymes wouldn’t be able to land a single hit on this version of Michael. Halloween succeeds in making Michael Myers scary again and every death in his Haddonfield killing spree feels vicious in a different sort of way. He may not kill a baby, but who cares when he’s stealing people’s teeth and murdering loved ones?

The Aliens (A Quiet Place)

First Jordan Peele and now John Krasinski; comedic actors are suddenly turning into some of the most prolific new names in horror. Krasinski’s A Quiet Place is a remarkably restrained take on horror and it’s one of the better examples of less being more. The film introduces some deeply upsetting aliens that use their evolved sense of hearing to wipe out anything that they identify. A creature with extraordinary hearing that forces you to operate in unnatural ways in order to survive is already a frightening idea, but these things are also bulletproof. These aliens also look like something that William Birkin from Resident Evil 2 would have cooked up in his lab, but they feature a really inspired design that actually makes sense based on the evolution of the aliens. The film features an extremely tense game of cat and mouse that simultaneously feels like something from out of Jurassic Park and Alien. Everything about these monsters, whether it’s their disturbing look, their tremendous abilities, or the complete lack of information that we have on them, makes them a success.

Andre Toulon’s Puppets (Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich)

The Puppet Master series has been kicking around for nearly three decades, but this year’s Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich set out to be a harsh reboot of the quirky series. The film brings back classic murderous toys, Blade, Pinhead, Tunneler, and Torch, but it also adds plenty of new ones into the mix like the uniquely twisted Happy Amphibian, Mr. Pumper, or Money Lender puppets. The film knows that killer puppets are an inherently silly idea, but S. Craig Zahler’s script makes sure to make these tiny terrors as brutal as possible. Lovers get horribly burned and disfigured, couples are murdered in the middle of sex, and there’s a ridiculous set piece that results in a now-dead man urinating on his own severed head. This reboot features arguably the most extreme deaths in the entire franchise and at one point a puppet bursts through a pregnant woman’s stomach and then runs away with her fetus. These killer puppets do not care about your hang-ups and they do not hold back here.

The “Possum” (Possum)

Matthew Holness creates something special with Possum, an existential psychological horror film that’s practically silent for most of the picture. The film slowly gets under your skin and is a master in atmosphere. Sean Harris delivers an unnerving, tortured performance that stems around this troubled man’s relationship with a totem of trauma that he’s created; a disturbing spider-esque puppet with human characteristics known as the possum. Harris acts utterly terrified of the puppet, even when it’s concealed in a bag, but the reveal does not disappoint once it’s out in the open. A movie like this would fail if the central puppet wasn’t appropriately scary and Possum’s creation exceeds expectations. The fact that the nightmarish toy also involves a Babadook-esque nursery rhyme makes it even creepier.

The Ice Cream Man (Ice Cream Man)

Even if you’re not a comic fan, Image Comics’ Ice Cream Man should be mandatory reading. Each issue presents an entirely new morality play where some poor soul goes through a new version of hell after they encounter the series’ big puppet master, the ice cream man. Every story presented in this eight-issue anthology lands and the demonic ice cream man always finds creative ways to plague his victims. It’s unclear entirely what the ice cream man is (he may even be God…), but the point of these stories is not to defeat this guy. These are his stories and he’s always going to win and they’re a bummer. There’s an especially brilliant issue that presents a triptych of alternate storylines that stem from a single event and the entire thing is done without words. Disturbing images and an unjust universe paired with precise storytelling make Ice Cream Man and its antagonist one of the more creative and sadistic monsters of the year.

Rag Doll (The Flash)

So The Flash definitely isn’t a horror series, but this season’s “All Doll’d Up” episode features a genuinely unsettling “metahuman of the week.” The villain makes for not only one of the most frightening characters to appear on The Flash, but a scary threat in general. This is a villain who has the superpower of contorting their body however they want, which makes them an ideal thief. Rag Doll isn’t a character that The Flash television series created, but their take on the classic DC villain involves an eerie porcelain mask that seriously ups the creep factor as they twist about. It also shouldn’t be surprising to hear that Troy James also plays this character, which means his contortionist game is incredibly on point. Rag Doll is definitely an unexpected source of horror, but a strong one all the same.

Keyface (Insidious: The Last Key)

The fourth film in the Insidious franchise is very problematic and it’s far from a good movie, but damn if it doesn’t feature an incredibly horrifying demon! In fact, “Keyface” has such a great design that it feels like the entire film was predicated off of this one cool element and the rest just couldn’t match it. Keyface is a particularly vengeful demon that feeds off of hatred, has a real penchant for killing nurses, and takes a particular shine to making life difficult for Elise Rainier and her family. However, backstory really isn’t important here because this demon has keys for fingers and he’ll insert them into you! Keyface locks various aspects of his victims away, whether it’s their voice or trapping their soul in The Further. It’s a very visceral image and even if the film doesn’t fully connect, the villain at least doesn’t disappoint.

The Bent-Neck Lady (The Haunting Of Hill House)

Mike Flanagan’s grueling family drama and delicate ghost story deconstruction knocked everyone back this year and throughout the season there was one disturbing ghost at the center of it all, the Bent-Neck Lady. The mystery of who exactly this broken-necked spirit is hangs over the season, but there’s a beautiful, sad story behind this macabre monster. The Bent-Neck Lady looks scary and punctuates many of the season’s more frightening moments, but she’s also a dark portent of what’s to come for this grieving family. This ghost represents the dangers that await us and will surely go down in the ghosts from haunted houses hall of fame, right alongside the Grady Twins from The Shining.  

While all of the above monsters impressed us the most, it was such a strong year for horror that we thought we’d also throw in some Honorable Mentions: The Nun’s Valak, Vampyr’s Jonathan Reid, The Predator’s Super Predator, Mandy’s Demon Bikers, Hell Fest’s The Other, AHS: Apocalypse’s Michael Langdon, and We Happy Few’s Police (they may not be literal monsters, but masks are creepy and we don’t have Strangers: Prey By Night on here, so…)

This is going around Tumblr again, and ya know what? Five years later and I still like this. That's pretty nice. pic.twitter.com/DsGmRBcVFV

— brinsonmarie (@brinsonmarie) December 15, 2018

It would seem that there are currently two different official Critters projects in the works, including a brand new film from Syfy that’s shooting early next year. Additionally, as announced last year, Zombeavers director Jordan Rubin was directing web series “Critters: A New Binge” for Verizon’s go90, a mobile video service that Verizon has since shut down.

We don’t know when or in what form it’ll be coming, but it looks like “Critters: A New Binge” is still happening. In fact, a series of behind the scenes photos from the Facebook group Critters Rehatched indicate that the series has already been filmed, and it’s heavy on practical FX!

*Update*: We have confirmed that “Critters: A New Binge” has wrapped filming, and a release announcement is coming soon!

Check out some of the photos below and see more over on Critters Rehatched!

The plot for the series is as follows…

“The critters return to Earth in search of one of their kin, who was left behind years ago during an earlier mission. They land in Burbank, Calif., where they wreak havoc on a group of high schoolers and their families.”

The creative team behind Zombeavers, Jordan Rubin, Jon Kaplan and Al Kaplan, wrote and executive produced, with Rubin also directing.

Rupert Harvey and Barry Opper, from the original film franchise, produce.

Have you been waiting to pull the trigger on one of Anker’s Nebula projectors? Today’s Gold Box has two of the best deals we’ve ever seen on its Nebula Mars and Nebula Mars Lite models.

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If 2018 has taught us anything, it’s that kids love playing Fortnite just about as much as they hate not playing Fortnite. In recognition of this, the latest “YouTube Challenge” issued on Jimmy Kimmel Live involves parents simply turning off the TV while their kids are in the middle of an online, unpausable Fortnite …

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Netflix issued a series of fun press releases that celebrate their biggest hits, one of which was the Mike Flanagan-directed masterpiece “The Haunting of Hill House”. According to their undisclosed stats, “The Haunting of Hill House” (read our review) was one of the most binged shows/films this year, although I find it depressing it landed behind the god-awful second season of “13 Reasons Why”.

It should also be noted that this is a breakdown of “the highest average watch time per viewing session based on U.S. data,” which means this list is more for fun than actual accuracy.

1. On My Block
2. Making a Murderer: Part 2
3. 13 Reasons Why: Season 2
4. Last Chance U: INDY
5. Bodyguard
6. Fastest Car
7. The Haunting of Hill House
8. Anne with an E: Season 2
9. Insatiable
10. Orange Is the New Black: Season 6

“The Haunting of Hill House” is a complex family drama wrapped in a chilling horror story…

“A modern reimagining of Shirley Jackson‘s iconic novel, “The Haunting of Hill House” explores a group of siblings who, as children, grew up in what would go on to become the most famous haunted house in the country.  Now adults, and forced back together in the face of tragedy, the family must finally confront the ghosts of their past — some of which still lurk in their minds while others may actually be stalking the shadows of Hill House.”

Michiel Huisman, Carla Gugino, Timothy Hutton, Elizabeth Reaser, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Henry Thomas, Kate Siegel and Victoria Pedretti star, along with Lulu Wilson, McKenna Grace, Paxton Singleton, Violet McGraw and Julian Hilliard.

The 10-episode series hit Netflix on October 12.

PART OF THE POD: A New Zealand woman says she was swimming by herself when she was suddenly joined by three friendly killer whales.

The orcas peacefully swam alongside her in what she describes as a life-changing experience. https://t.co/UYXoFq9xwb pic.twitter.com/NFR60pFY2Y

— ABC News (@ABC) December 12, 2018

this is a video of Sansa dreaming pic.twitter.com/6hpaWG0Lbr

— Nicole Cliffe (@Nicole_Cliffe) December 10, 2018

Finn’s new favorite thing is to chew his toys directly on top of me while I work to try and get my attention pic.twitter.com/xE34aQS9rM

— Becca 💛 no chill (@rfarrowster) December 11, 2018

every. day. pic.twitter.com/FcOZ4WTlJx

— Becca 💛 no chill (@rfarrowster) December 13, 2018

SOMEBODY GET THIS BABY BEAR A GOD DAMN HOT CHOCOLATE pic.twitter.com/bpphGP3m5O

— Barstool Outdoors (@StoolOutdoors) December 12, 2018

Supermassive Games is best known, at least in recent times, for the story-driven horror title Until Dawn, which spawned both a spin-off and a prequel in subsequent years. Other than occasionally flirting with Windows over its nigh decade-long history, Supermassive has focused on developing games for several generations of PlayStation consoles. Its latest project takes it into entirely new territory, however. Political thriller Shattered State is a VR experience that launches today on Google's Daydream platform, and so is available to anyone with a compatible phone or headset.

This makes it a bit surprising—and a bit of a tragedy—that the game is being pilloried by its target audience, and, based on its already declining player base, is on a direct path to an embarrassing free-to-play resuscitation. With 10,975 reviews in on Steam, Artifact’s score is“Mixed”, which, on Steam, is a sure sign that something has gone seriously wrong. It doesn’t take a lot of searching to uncover the culprit: How Artifact is monetized.

...

This poses a dilemma for reviewers. Artifact, clearly, is a flashpoint for ongoing debates about the relationship of mechanics to monetization. Artifact’s woes are not just because of how it separates players from their money, but because of how flagrantly it ties these two arenas together, the ritual of play bound and gagged to the vulgarity of buying and selling. This challenges one of the underlying assumptions of what, exactly, we’re reviewing when we review games.

With the surprise launch of the Epic Games Store last week, followed by scores of news articles and tweets proclaiming war between Steam and Epic, it might be shocking to hear that there are other digital video game marketplaces on the internet. Kartridge, for instance, is a game store from Kongregate that offers a curated selection of independent titles -- rather than a holding cell for every project under the sun, as Steam has become for many players.

Today, Kartridge announced a partnership with the Indie Megabooth to spotlight prominent games from the group's six-year history as a traveling showcase. Titles on Kartridge from IMB alumni will be clearly marked and featured on the store's main page, and the list will be updated quarterly with fresh games.

Back in October, we dropped a bomb of a scoop, reporting that not only would Syfy be making a new feature film based on the Chiodo brothers’ Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988), but they’d also be revisiting Critters, which launched in 1986 under the direction of Stephen Herek. While we don’t have any updates on the new Klowns project, we do have some interesting news on Critters.

Last year, it was announced that Verizon’s go90 has ordered “Critters: A New Binge” from Blue Ribbon Content, the Warner Bros. Television Group’s digital studio.  Zombeaver‘s Jordan Rubin was attached to direct what would be released on mobile devices, similar to go90’s “Snatchers” and “La Quinceañera”. Since then, Verizon shut down go90, which put this project in peril.

Thankfully, instead of doing a mobile series, a new Critters is in the works as a feature film with plans to shoot this coming January in South Africa, says Production Weekly.

While there are no plot details or director just yet, the producers lend credence to my story from last October: Adam Friedlander and Armand Leo, the former who is credited as co-producer on Syfy’s Leprechaun Returns as well as their Lake Placid: Legacy.

Critters followed a group of small, furry aliens that make lunch out of the locals in a farming town. Leonardo DiCaprio made his film debut in the third Critters.

We’ll update with casting and director news as it comes in.

Those of us living in our ivory towers tend to forget just how precarious the so-called civilized society we live in truly is, but rapper Killer Mike is going to work with Netflix to expose just how primed for collapse our society truly is. In a new, six-episode “subversive comedy documentary” series titled Trigger…

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Peter Jackson and the WETA team are currently working on 4K restorations of Jackson’s first four films, including gross-out horror movies Bad Taste and Dead Alive, but would the man who has become more known for directing the Lord of the Rings films ever be up for making a return to horror? Sam Raimi did it, so maybe Peter Jackson is next? Hopefully?

In a new chat with THR, Jackson seems pretty open to the idea.

“Oh, I’m very happy to be disgusting again if the right project comes along,” he told the site. “It would be interesting to see how disgusting [co-writer Fran Walsh] and I could be in our older age compared to our younger years because we’ve learned a few things since then.”

He added, “We know a little bit more about the world than we did then, so maybe our levels of disgusting could go into whole new places!”

Jackson hasn’t returned to his horror roots since The Frighteners in 1996, and fans of Bad Taste and Dead Alive have been long begging for more splatter from him. Here’s hoping!

The indie mutant-superhero is headed to Hollywood!

Last we heard, Lloyd Kaufman is working on a fifth installment in Troma’s Toxic Avenger franchise, but we’ve learned tonight that Legendary Entertainment has now acquired the feature film rights for a remake of the original film.

We don’t have any additional details at this time, but this is needless to say huge news for the franchise, which to date includes four feature films and an animated series, “Toxic Crusaders.”

In the 1984 original, directed by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz…

“Tromaville has a monstrous new hero. The Toxic Avenger is born when meek mop boy Melvin falls into a vat of toxic waste. Now evildoers will have a lot to lose.”

Kaufman and Herz will produce alongside Legendary’s Alex Garcia and Jay Ashenfelter.

We had told you back in October, straight from Peter Jackson‘s mouth, that both Bad Taste and Dead Alive were being restored in 4K by the WETA Digital VFX team, and Jackson now reveals that they’re not the only early films of his that are getting the treatment. So too are Meet the Feebles and Heavenly Creatures, which Jackson also owns!

“I’ve done some tests on Braindead (aka Dead Alive), where we took the 16mm negative and put it through our restoration pipeline — and shit, it looks fantastic!” Jackson just told THR. “I’m pretty keen to actually just get them back out there again. That’s sort of my plan for now: to do a nice little box set — the early years! The naughty years!”

“The mixes on those films were pretty much all stereo in those days, so we’re going to get the old soundtracks out and do a 5.1 mix,” Jackson added, noting that both audio and video will be restored. He also teased that the eventual box set release will be packed with bonus features that have not previously been seen by any of us!

“I’ve always had video diaries being shot,” he explains. “So I’ve got about an hour or two of us shooting Bad Taste, seven or eight hours of us shooting Meet the Feebles, 50 to 60 hours of us filming Braindead, and at least 70 hours of us doing Heavenly Creatures. And it’s not just people talking to camera. It’s actually a guy on the set filming us making the film. So there’s some pretty interesting stuff there and none of it has ever been out.”

Holiday beers needn’t taste like months-old bread pudding or licking a Christmas tree. Traditionally, these year-end releases were boozy “winter warmers” loaded with nutmeg and clove and every other spice cabinet ingredient—but that’s no longer the only option. Breweries’ holiday beers these days range in style from…

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Seemingly confirming yet another Marvel hero who’ll almost certainly make it out of Avengers: Endgame alive, Marvel Studios has lined up production details on the planned sequel to 2016's Doctor Strange. Per The Hollywood Reporter, said plans include finalizing negotiations to bring Scott Derrickson—who directed the…

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In the eyes (and ears) of many, the late Jóhann Jóhannsson‘s Mandy score is one of this year’s very best, and the hope was that Jóhannsson would be receiving his final Oscar nomination for his contributions to the film. Jóhannsson, who passed away early this year, had been nominated for The Theory of Everything and Sicario, so he was something of an Oscar favorite.

Unfortunately, we’ve learned this week via Variety, Mandy is ineligible for Academy Awards consideration, which means that not even Jóhannsson’s brilliant score can be nominated. The reason? “[Mandy] was released on VOD before it completed its qualifying [theatrical] run,” ensuring that the film will be completely shut out of the ceremony.

Granted, it’s highly likely that Mandy was never going to be nominated for Best Picture, but Jóhannsson’s score damn sure deserved the recognition. A bummer, to say the least.

You can listen to one of Jóhannsson’s hauntingly beautiful tracks from Mandy below.

Reason is a lie in Adult Swim’s stop-motion animated “The Shivering Truth”, which hails from Wonder Showzen and The Heart, She Holler creator Vernon Chatman.

Adult Swim recently shared the first nightmarish and hallucinatory trailer for the series that is described as “a miniature propulsive omnibus clusterbomb of painfully riotous daymares, all dripping with the orange goo of dream logic” that will include a “series of loosely-linked emotional parables about stories within tales that crawled out of the deepest caverns of your unconscious mind and became lovingly animated in breath-slapping stop motion — in other words, it is the TRUTH.”

Chatman lends his voice with Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, and Starlee Kine.

“The Shivering Truth” debuts Sunday, December 9, at midnight.

Here are some new images. 

Microsoft may have bought Obsidian, but that isn't stopping the developer from releasing at least one multi-platform title. Obsidian has taken the wraps off The Outer Worlds, a single-player sci-fi RPG headed to PC, PS4 and Xbox One in 2019. In spirit, it's Fallout in space -- you play a newly-thawed settler on the galaxy's frontier who has to grapple with megacorporations, less-than-friendly beasts and other threats. And true to Obsidian's pedigree with games like Fallout: New Vegas, you can expect a pervasive sense of humor.

Source: Obsidian (Twitter)

As I’ve done for the last five years, I’ve spent the past few weeks scouring the internet for the best 2018 gift guides and pulled a few of the most interesting items from each. Think of it as a curated meta-guide for your holiday giving. Let’s dig in.

Charitable giving always tops this list. Check out GiveWell and Charity Navigator to find organizations that will put your money to the best use. (Read up on big charities like Red Cross and Salvation Army…they are often not the best use of your charity dollar.) GiveDirectly sends money directly to people living in extreme poverty around the world. I always recommend Volunteer Match to find local volunteer opportunities but they force you to log in now, so just an FYI. Alternate sites for volunteering are the AARP’s Create the Good and United Way. If you’re giving to the local food shelf, skip buying food yourself for the donation bin and set up a direct debit or CC payment instead…that will put your donation to better use.

If you’re looking for great gift ideas for kids (and/or Toys for Tots), the best place to look remains the excellent The Kid Should See This Gift Guide. I use this almost exclusively for all of my kid-related holiday and birthday shopping. This year’s stand-out items include The littleBits Space Rover Inventor Kit (littleBits stuff is *huge* in our household), The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid (got this for my daughter for her birthday), SET (a pal also recently recommended this game), and a set of four board books including Quantum Physics for Babies. And whoa, the Harry Potter Coding Kit from Kano? Accio Coding Kit!

The Accidental Shop is a collection of products I’ve previously linked to on kottke.org. It is heavy on books…I’d particularly recommend Emily Wilson’s The Odyssey, Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs, and Arbitrary Stupid Goal by Tamara Shopsin. Oh, and I’m flying through Madeline Miller’s Circe right now…what a read!

For those of you into food, you’ve probably already have an Instant Pot and Anova Sous Vide Cooker, so check out the gift guides from Eater, Food52, Serious Eats, Kitchn, and Ruth Reichl. Among their recommendations are a Korean fermeting crock (for making kimchi), the Five Two double-sided cutting board, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat, a Taco Passport, Anita Lo’s well-regarded Solo: A Modern Cookbook for a Party of One, and aged fish sauce (!!).

I love my Kindle Paperwhite and there’s an updated version this year that’s waterproof, lighter & thinner, has Bluetooth for audiobooks, and has more storage.

I’ve seen several guides touting so-called “inexpensive” gifts and then going on to recommend $50 bars of soap, so Slate’s The Good Enough List is a welcome effort. They’ve recommended a bunch of items that are almost as good as the best available options but more affordable. My favorite pick is their rec for a $7 pedometer over a Fitbit or Apple Watch. They also highlight the Gulliver crib from Ikea, which I have taken apart and put back together approximately 30 times. It’s a basic, durable, simple, and fantastic crib.

The kids and I have been playing two games pretty heavily this year: Sushi Go Party and Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle. I really like Hogwarts Battle because it’s cooperative — all the players play together against the villans on the board and it’s fun to strategize how to allocate tokens and hearts to get everyone through the danger areas.

The 2018 Engineering Gift Guide from Purdue University is full of “gift ideas that engage girls and boys in engineering thinking and design”. Their picks this year include Duct Tape Engineer and Kiwi Crate’s monthly subscription service for project kits (which a friend also recently recommended).

The Astronomers Without Borders OneSky Reflector Telescope is probably the best $200 telescope you can buy. I got one this summer and it’s been great for looking at the Moon, planets, and even some nearby galaxies.

My kids would flip out if I bought the family a Nintendo Switch with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe but I don’t think it’s going to happen. [crying emoji]

Whenever I need to buy something for around the house, Wirecutter is the first (and often only) place I go for recommendations. From their Gifts We Want to Give in 2018, I found Blue Planet II (the *perfect* family holiday entertainment), a Carhartt tool bag, fleece blankets from Uniqlo, and a pack of Blackwing pencils.

Remember Viewmaster? Now you can Create Your Own Reel Viewer.

The 2018 Christmas Catalog from Tools & Toys is blissfully heavy on the nerdy stuff. Their picks include an instant photo printer for your iPhone, the Field Cast Iron Skillet, these enamel steel signs from Best Made, and this clever magnetic wrist band for keeping track of errant screws and parts while you’re doing projects. And Lego has a Voltron kit? Holy nostalgia.

Every year I “recommend” this 55-gallon drum of personal lubricant because why would anyone actually buy this? (Have any of you ever bought this? Report back, please!)

I recently did a round-up of Adult Nonfiction Adapted for Younger Readers, including The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan and Howard Zinn’s A Young People’s History of the United States.

Recommended this last year but gonna repeat: a Christmas storybook based on Die Hard. Self-recommending. See also this sequined Jeff Goldblum pillow.

Some friends of mine love this Ooni portable pizza oven…it can cook a pizza at 932°F in just 60 seconds.

I’m lucky to know so many people who have written books or built companies that sell great products. Here are some of them: Advencher, prints from Mari Andrew (a rare occurrence), This Book is a Planetarium, Legal Nomads, 20x200, Tattly, The Bloody Mary, SDR Traveller, Cora Ball, Austin Kleon, Happy Cooking Hospitality, you think you know me, Gracie’s Ice Cream, Kingston Stockade FC, Storyworth, The Aviary Cocktail Book, Chris Piascik, Salty Avocado, Hoefler & Co, Tinybop, Fat Gold, Hella Cocktail Co, Storq maternity wear, Milkmade, and Field Notes.

From The Colossal Shop, multi-colored toy soldiers doing yoga. See also this maddening puzzle…the pieces change colors depending on how you look at them.

My daughter endlessly rereads her Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls books (sequel). I Am A Rebel Girl Journal is their newest product and just might be under our family tree this year.

Socks inspired by Eric Carle’s Very Hungry Caterpillar? Yes, please. And they make them for adults too! The same company makes all sorts of book-related products, from Harry Potter t-shirts to Kurt Vonnegut necklaces.

From the NY Times’ collection of gift guides, a US National Parks annual pass (I put mine to good use this summer), a phone mount for your car (I got one of these this summer and love it), and these Jabra wireless earbuds that the Wirecutter rates as better than Apple AirPods. Oh and Bananagrams.

From Curbed’s 21 holiday gifts for people who like nice things, this ramen puzzle and a radio designed by Charles and Ray Eames in 1946 but was never produced (until now).

More gift guides: Cup of Jo, Canopy, Engadget (tech), The Guardian, Buzzfeed, Daily Nous (philosophy), Tom’s Guide (tech), and Red Tricycle (kids).

My gift guides from the last few years have yet more ideas: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013.

Update: A few miscellaneous gifts suggested by readers. Island Creek’s Oyster of the Month Club. A retro SNES game console from Ghostly and Analogue. From Richard Eaglespoon’s 2018 Holiday Gift Guide, these small metal tins of Malden’s sea salt for bringing to restaurants.

I’ve also posted my yearly round-up of best books of the year. Among the most frequent recommendations for 2018 are Madeline Miller’s Circe, David Blight’s biography of Frederick Douglass, Educated by Tara Westover, and How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics by Michael Pollan.

Update: I wasn’t going to update this anymore but I’m making an exception for this: a firelog that smells like Kentucky Fried Chicken when you burn it. !!! Only $18.99 (incl s&h).

We had learned earlier this year that Robert Zemeckis would be directing a new adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Witches, first adapted by the late Nicolas Roeg back in 1990, with both Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron on board to produce. Talk about a power team, eh?

An update from Variety this week lets us know that Anne Hathaway has been offered a role in the film. The site writes, “the actress is fielding an offer for Robert Zemeckis’ The Witches.”

Granted, that doesn’t mean she’ll take it, but it’s good to know this one is moving along.

Based on the 1973 novel, the film follows a seven-year-old boy who has a run in with real-life witches. Zemeckis’ version will be more rooted in the original source material, which had a much darker, franchise-beginning finale (the young boy remains a mouse and must spend his short life hunting and killing all of those registered in the Grand High Witch’s address book).

It’s not uncommon for people to patronize their favorite restaurants on a trip back to their hometown; it just so happens that for me, all of my favorite restaurants are of the barbecue variety. I can’t say this is anything but customary for those from Kansas City, a place where barbecue is so rooted in the city’s…

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Beer-industry dust-ups come and go, and they generally pass unnoticed by the general public. But the recent accusations against (and rebuttals from) Massachusetts darling Trillium Brewing Company feel different. Even casual beer drinkers have been asking me: Hey, what’s going on with that Trillium scandal?

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