09
Apr
The day anime fans thought would never come is here. Premiering in 1982, Super Dimension Fortress Macross was the start of a massive anime franchise that’s continued to this day with numerous sequels and films. While the first Macross series came to the west as the first part of the Robotech series (and was released uncut later on), most of those sequels and films haven’t been released outside of Japan due to varying legal disagreements between rights holders Big West Co. LTD., Studio Nue, INC. (who were both involved in the original creation of Macross) and Harmony Gold U.S.A. (who…
23
Feb
We came for The Mandalorian, stuck around for WandaVision, and, as we wait for The Falcon and Winter Soldier and Loki to arrive, there’s now a huge pile of new catalogue additions to work through, courtesy of Disney Plus’ Star brand. Star launched on the Disney Plus streaming service in territories outside of the US (where Disney already has a home for adult drama in Hulu) on the 23rd of February. It’s added over 75 TV shows and 280 feature films here in the UK, including the entirety of Lost, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, Glee, Prison Break, Sons…
11
Dec
It’s the time of year when you can’t enter a store without hearing those familiar holiday jingles as your shopping soundtrack. With many families reducing their gatherings this year, it’s a good time to snuggle up, stay in, and share some Christmas movies with your kids. Here are some of the best that Disney+ has to offer. Lego Star Wars Holiday Special This season’s brand new holiday special features the cast of the Star Wars Sequel trilogy celebrating Life Day. Rey feels she’s failing Finn as his teacher in the ways of the Jedi, so she seeks out an ancient…
27
Oct
This year, like just about every other film festival that managed to put on some kind of show in 2020, the 34th annual AFI Fest went nearly all-virtual. The yearly American Film Institute event, which usually combines major studio and independent releases, bypassed its usual eight-day blitz at the famous TCL Chinese Theatre complex in Hollywood for an online simulacrum that did not perhaps offer up the same glittering premieres and major studio contenders as in past years, but still managed to offer up a number of superb offerings. “Attending” a film festival from one’s desk or couch can be…
09
Oct
It’s the season for thrills and chills, but if you’re planning to watch movies with your kids as Halloween approaches, you might not be looking for the scariest horror films. Luckily, there’s plenty of family friendly fare on Disney+ to add some spooky to your Halloween season. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad When you’re looking for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow on Disney+, it doesn’t come up on its own. The short from 1949 was released in tandem with another short based on the Wind in the Willows. The combined films were released under the full title of…
06
Oct
It was while I was researching The Book of Horror, an illustrated guide to the scariest movies ever made, that I first started seeing things. Not the full Haley Joel Osment, you understand, but what we’ll call a seventh sense. I’d catch glimpses of something out of the corner of my eye, and my mind would fill in the blanks with spooky imagery because I was consuming so much of it. It didn’t help that my son had just been born. Lack of sleep combined with horror movie overload is a condition I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Night becomes dawn…
28
Sep
As HBO Max — the massive new streaming service launched by Warner Media this past summer — continues to add to its vast programming selection, this October bring a wealth of new horror titles to the platform just in time for Halloween. HBO Max not only has scores of horror movies already licensed to HBO from other studios, but the service can also delve deeply into the legendary Warner Bros. Pictures vaults as well. And one of the prized finds that will debut on HBO Max next month is a selection of classics from the storied library of Hammer Films.…
14
Aug
Jason Blum’s house of horrors, aka Blumhouse Productions, is preparing to release a slate of new original content exclusively to Amazon. Needless to say this is the greatest treat horror hounds might expect in time for Halloween. The series of eight films, helpfully referred to as “The Blumhouse” by Amazon’s press statement, offers a variety of new voices to audiences eager for fresh blood in their thrills. The first four films in the series will premiere on Amazon beginning on Oct. 6, the other four movies will debut on the streaming service sometime in 2021. “We are excited to launch…
09
Jul
Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts is a glorious animated series that, if you somehow aren’t watching, you need to stop what you’re doing and inject it directly into your eyeballs. It’s one of the most fun, inventive, and inclusive series out there for kids and adults (with a killer soundtrack as well!) There’s only two seasons so far but Rad Sechrist, the creator of the series, already has ideas for further adventures that go beyond the scope of the main series’ story. He’s shared a few on Twitter and we asked him to elaborate on these ideas and…
23
Jun
If you watched an action, sci-fi, or horror movie in the 1980s, there was a good chance it was produced by Cannon Films. The studio — perhaps the last great home of B-movie and exploitation classics — was founded in 1967 but hit its apex between 1979 and 1987, releasing scores of films that (mostly) no one would call high cinema but which delivered thrills, chills and plenty of blood, action, and fire on a budget. Tapping into the massive market for both high and low concept fare — the 1980s equivalent of drive-in double bill fillers — Cannon, under…
08
Jun
When I was a kid, I somehow inherited an 8mm film projector and managed to convince my mom to buy me a handful of movies on the format. Now when I say “movies,” I mean these little spools of 8mm celluloid that basically took various motion pictures and condensed them down to silent 10-minute highlight reels, mostly in black and white. They were in many ways the earliest precursor of home video, and one of the films I convinced my mom to purchase was Hammer Films’ Taste the Blood of Dracula. While the format really prevented me from making much…
01
Jun
This article contains spoilers for 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home J.K. Simmons has revealed that he’s signed up to star in further Marvel-Sony Spider-Man movies as J. Jonah Jameson. The Oscar-winning actor famously reprised his role from Sam Raimi’s web-slinging trilogy in last summer’s MCU instalment, Spider-Man: Far From Home – albeit in a twisted new way, leaving hard copy behind and outing Peter Parker as Spider-Man on a live dailybugle.net stream during a mid-credits scene. Likely due to a combination of iron-clad NDAs and uncertainly around the current industry timeline, Simmons says that both he and fans of the…
22
May
Thanks to our current situation, there aren’t many new movies being released at the moment. And while that’s a sad state of affairs for cinephiles, it does at least provide a good opportunity to look back and check out some golden oldies that might have so far slipped under your radar. Luckily, the good old Beeb has you covered. Streaming service BBC iPlayer has acquired a bunch of big-screen masterpieces for your lockdown delectation, all produced by the legendary RKO Pictures – one of the “big five” studios of Hollywood’s Golden Age. From powerhouse dramas to technicolour marvels, toe-tapping musicals…
13
May
Generation C is being invaded by the B-Girls. 80s cult singer Josie Cotton, best known for blurring the angst of both liberals and conservatives with “Johnny Are You Queer?,” sees the science fiction claustrophobia arising from the coronavirus pandemic and wants to help. Cotton joined the Minutemen’s Mike Watt, the Runaways’ Cherie Currie, and Eddie Spaghetti on the song “Flatten the Curve,” to benefit the Jubilee Consortium and the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund. Everyone else, she advises to cuddle up with a bad movie. Cotton ventured beyond the valley of the dolls in a “so-bad-they’re-good” movie hunt to accompany this…
10
Apr
As a child of the ‘80s, the so-called Poltergeist curse looms largest in my memory amongst films supposedly plagued by supernaturally bad luck. And as a paranormal pop culture researcher, the fact real skeletons were used in the finale’s swimming pool scene makes the notion of a curse all the more compelling. As purely a storytelling device, a curse would make sense; it tracks. Of course there is most likely no truth to it either. To be sure, there is indeed tragedy connected to the film. Most notable is the murder of 22-year-old actress Dominique Dunne in November 1982–five months…
09
Apr
Having picked up the reigns on The Batman from a weary Ben Affleck, who had been attempting to develop a solo Batman movie since donning the cowl in Warner Bros’ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, director Matt Reeves understands that there’s a lot riding on his new vision for the Dark Knight, and in a new interview with Nerdist, he’s been looking back on the films that came before, and how he can create a unique Bruce Wayne story, borne from trauma. Reeves cast Robert Pattinson as the iconic DC character in his upcoming movie, which…
02
Apr
Some movies are born bad. Poltergeist, The Omen, The Exorcist; these are iconic horror films with reputations of misfortune and mishap. Either due to a series of grim coincidences that form a pattern or one or two notable tragedies, a handful of films are said to have near-evil legacies. Maybe it really is as Shirley Jackson mused in The Haunting of Hill House? If some spots attach to themselves an atmosphere of goodness, “It might not then be too fanciful to say some houses are born bad.” So why not movies too? Within horror films, curses are caused by the…
18
Mar
Netflix is an ever-changing, constantly growing treasure trove of hidden gems and secret delights (here’s everything new on Netflix UK this month). Sometimes, a teeny bit too secret though. Who hasn’t sat down to watch a horror movie and found themselves scrolling endlessly, either not being able to find something they’re in the mood for, or not really knowing what half the titles are, or if they’re any good? We’ve scoured the full current catalogue available to watch in the UK now and picked out the best scary movies. It’s a mix of classic and new, and a range of…
11
Mar
Editor’s Note: This post is updated monthly. Bookmark this page to see what the best horror movies on Netflix are at your convenience. Updated for March 2020. You can see a complete list of new Netflix releases here. Is it Halloween when you’re reading this? If not, don’t worry: every day can be Halloween when you try hard enough. There is nothing quite as fun as embracing the spooky, the creepy, the scary, and all that goes bump in the night. Thankfully we have horror movies to help us down these crepuscular paths. If you ever find yourself in need of…
