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In the annals of hallowed movie scores, John Williams boasts the Holy Trinity of Jaws, Star Wars, and Superman. And woe be unto any composer that strives outdo those immortal soundtracks — particularly if they try to put their own stamp on one of the reigning gods of movie music.

That's a risk that John Murphy and David Fleming were both well aware of when James Gunn persuaded them to collaborate on the score for his relaunch of the Man of Steel's feature film franchise. Past Superman revivals have handled the challenge in different ways. John Ottman's score for 2006's Superman Returns didn't mess with success, preserving the Williams title anthem with little to no changes. But Hans Zimmer left the "Superman March" out of his score for 2013's Man of Steel — one of many controversial departures that movie made from the template established the Christopher Reeve films.

James...

AMC Networks’ Shudder has announced the titles that will be available on the streaming service next month. The Shudder August 2025 slate includes horror, thriller, and supernatural titles.

The August schedule includes the films Clown in a Cornfield and The Twin, the series The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs, and more.

Shudder’s expanding library of films, TV series, and original content is available on most streaming devices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.

Clown in a Cornfield Shudder August 2025 Highlights

Films

Urban Legend – Streaming on August 1 (Available in the US)

A college student suspects a series of bizarre deaths are connected to certain urban legends. Directed by Jamie Blanks, the film stars Jared Leto, Alicia Witt, and Rebecca Gayheart.

Urban Legends: Final Cut – Streaming on August 1 (Available in the US)

A film school is the center of a fresh spate of killings based on urban legends.

On July 8, 2005, 20th Century Fox brought the Fantastic Four to the big screen, launching the Marvel superheroes to a $330 million worldwide gross and a quickly greenlit sequel. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review of the Tim Story-directed film is below:

Given the sheer number of screenwriters and directors who have come and gone along the way, the comic book-to-motion picture journey taken by Fantastic Four has been fraught with enough obstacles to make that DNA altering cosmic radiation storm encountered by the Marvel superheroes look like a gentle breeze by comparison.

Now, 44 years after the quartet made its comic book debut, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch and the Thing arrive on the big screen courtesy of a script officially credited to Mark Frost and Michael France, direction by Tim Story and about 800 visual effects shots.

And the result? Fantastic Four‘s a colossal snore.

After all the fussing...

It’s easy to forget that the vast majority of Superman movies have struggled to move the needle. While the original Richard Donner Superman put comic book movies on the map, the Christopher Reeve-led sequels were bad. While Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel is fondly remembered, the stories behind the scenes of the next two movies turned into a powder keg in the discourse. Superman Returns is not without its own controversies.

Directed by person non grata Bryan Singer and starring Kevin Spacey before he was accused of sexual harassment, many have chosen to ignore a title they were not too fond of to begin with. However, with the release of James Gunn’s Superman, it’s time to revisit the movie that is the closest we’ve seen to Gunn’s vision.

Superman Returns Plot

After spending five years investigating what happened to Krypton, Kal-El (Brandon Routh) returns to Earth.

You Can’t Kill the Boogeyman: The Ongoing Halloween Saga―13 Movies and Counting will be published in hardcover and e-book on August 7 via Bloomsbury Publishing.

Written by Wayne Byrne (Welcome to Elm Street: Inside the Film and Television Nightmares), the book is a cultural and critical examination of the Halloween franchise, considering the style, themes, and development of the series within temporal and industrial contexts.

Through candid conversations, a variety of directors, screenwriters, cinematographers, composers, and actors from across the 13 Halloween films offer exclusive insights into their careers, their unique aesthetic approaches, and their experiences of working on one of the most celebrated horror franchises of all time.

Interview subjects include: actors Gloria Gifford, Marianne Hagan, and Brad Loree; directors Tommy Lee Wallace, Dwight H. Little, and Dominique Othenin-Girard; writer Daniel Farrands; cinematographers Dean Cundey, Peter Lyons Collister, Rob Draper, Daryn Okada, David Geddes, and Phil Parmet; and composers Alan Howarth,...

Another blast from the past for horror movie fans is making a comeback. Urban Legend, a slasher movie franchise that began with the original film released in 1998, is now set to get the reboot treatment.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, an Urban Legend reboot is now in early development. The film will be produced by Coin Operated's Gary Dauberman, a producer and writer on the new horror film Until Dawn, which hits theaters this weekend. Shanrah Wakefield will write the screenplay for the Urban Legend reboot with original Urban Legend producer Neal Moritz in talks to serve as a producer on the new film. A director hasn't yet been named, and no cast members are attached.

As it stands, no plot details have been divulged about the new take on Urban Legend. Reportedly, the story will be an "examination of what an urban legend looks like in a post-digital world,...

"Dune: Part Two" was one of the biggest movies of 2024, but unfortunately, not everyone who contributed to the film's success will be recognized for their work at the upcoming Academy Awards. A few months ago, it was confirmed that famed composer Hans Zimmer won't be eligible in the Best Original Score category due to the sequel's soundtrack sharing too much music with the first film. The Academy dictates that a sequel can't use more than 20% of a past entry's music in its score and still be eligible in the category.

Zimmer's exclusion is cushioned somewhat by the fact that his soundtrack for the first "Dune" actually won the Oscar for Best Original Score. Still, fans have lamented his removal from this year's category, as the sequel arguably has an even better soundtrack, anchored by the already iconic love theme "A Time of Quiet Between the Storms." Director Denis Villeneuve...

Farting is the great human equalizer.

We all do it (this includes Mr. Josh Brolin on the set of Denis Villenueve's "Dune"), and, when in the company of others, we try to do it as discreetly and politely as possible. If it's possible to step outside at a social gathering and expel one's gaseous accumulation, I'd like to think everyone reading this would choose this option. But sometimes quarters get tight, and the urge is too great to resist. We're caught, and the pressure built up in our bowels is involuntarily assuaged. If it's a noisy environment, you might get away with what we call "crop dusting," which entails maneuvering oneself to another area of the room and hoping someone else gets sniffed out as the culprit.

Sometimes, however, it's dead silent, and you're plainly the one who has, in flatulence parlance, dealt it.

This is never less than embarrassing,...

Orphan was released by Scream Factory on April 14th, 2024.

Murderous children is one of my favorite sub-genres of horror. Some are good, most are bad and a select few — including Orphan from 2009 — are truly great. Starting all the way back in 1956 with The Bad Seed, audiences have been captivated by the concept of children committing heinous acts of violence. Now, thanks to Scream Factory, we have one of the most shocking entries in the genre available on blu-ray with a brand-new, limited-edition slipcover.

Orphan Critique

Isabelle Fuhrman as Esther in The Orphan

Much like The Sixth Sense — and even Sleepaway Camp — Orphan is a horror film that’s primarily remembered for the twisted revelation at its conclusion; however, a movie has to be more than just its ending. Even knowing how the film ends, the rewatch-ability of Jaume Collet-Serra’s twisted tale is undeniable. The kill count is relatively low for this style of horror,...

Editor, composer, director and producer John Ottman is teaming with film and music industry executive David Franco to develop a dramatic biopic based on the life of world-renowned Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi.

The project, written by Kevin Lund and Tj Scott, has had been long-gestating, beginning 20 years ago when Ron Howard was set to direct. After many unsuccessful attempts, including with members of the famous Italian filmmaking De Laurentiis family in 2008, the project needed a new vision.

In 2018, Franco, the music producer on previous versions, brought the script to Ottman, who he saw as the man “destined to bring Vivaldi to life.” “There’s simply no talent more suited to craft this remarkable story,” he says.

Ottman immediately got to work re-shaping the story with the writers, before the Covid-19 pandemic stalled the project once again. Now, it’s finally back on track. “After all these years, we’ve never been more confident.

With Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 closing out the groundbreaking series, it's a good time to look back on how much it accomplished in the first four. Discovery changed the game for the franchise when it premiered in 2017, effectively launching the current Star Trek resurgence and fully updating its core concepts for the age of streaming. In that sense, it might be the most important effort the franchise has made since Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered in 1987.

Finding the 10 best episodes among the 55 of the first four seasons is more challenging than it sounds. Discovery is built around single-season mega-plots, which is an echo of its original concept as an anthology series. Individual episodes are thus difficult to separate from each other without marring Discovery's unique style of Star Trek storytelling. That said, the show has certainly delivered its share of high points in its first four seasons, and there's...

The songs in The Marvels are chosen with clear purpose and intention, adding to the fun, action, and humor of the movie. The soundtrack reflects the bright and action-packed tone of the movie, featuring a variety of songs from different artists and time periods. The movie also includes original musical numbers and classic scores from the X-Men films in its post-credits scene, hinting at exciting possibilities for the future of the MCU.

Warning! This post contains Spoilers for The Marvels.Here's every song in The Marvels, the exciting sequel to 2019's Captain Marvel starring Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel, and Brie Larson as Carol Danvers' Captain Marvel herself. An incredibly fun and action-packed new chapter of the MCU, the songs in The Marvels definitely add to the fun, action, and humor, with each one having been chosen with clear purpose and intention.

Several months after the Hollywood Critics Association rebranded itself as the Hollywood Creative Alliance, the org has also given its signature awards shows a new name. The Hca announced Friday that its various Hca awards will now be known as ‘The Astra Awards.’

That means the Hca Film Awards, Hca TV Awards and Hca Creative Arts Awards will become the Astra Film Awards, Astra TV Awards and the Astra Creative Arts Awards. The name change was approved by the org’s advisory committee on Nov. 17.

“As the Hollywood Creative Alliance expands to include creatives and other industry professionals, we wanted an award name that would be reflective of the newly relaunched organization,” said Hca CEO Scott Menzel in a statement. “The name ‘Astra’ is a perfect award show title evoking celestial brilliance and creative mastery. It encapsulates the collaborative spirit, symbolizing individual stars and elegantly embodies the industry’s aspiration,...

Comic book fans are going to be laughing at this headline, but we have a feeling that many The Marvels viewers won’t realize that X-Men‘s The Beast is making a cameo in the end credits scene.

This post is obviously filled with some spoilers, so beware of reading if you don’t want to know details of what happens, but it’s likely you’ll already see headlines online about this big moment.

The post-credits moment in the new movie The Marvels finally introduces X-Men into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and it looks like the characters from the previous Fox franchise are here to stay, especially now that Disney owns Fox.

Head inside to check out all of the details…

So, who is the blue guy in the end credits scene?

That’s Kelsey Grammer as Beast!

In the post-credits scene, we see Monica Rambeau waking up in...

We usually start these posts mentioning that fans often wonder if there’s going to be a post-credits scene for the movie they’re watching, but when it’s a Marvel movie, you know there will be one for sure!

The Marvels is now in theaters and everyone is going to be talking about what happens during the scenes at the end of this movie.

In the new film, Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) aka Captain Marvel has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe. When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece, now S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris). Together, this unlikely...

Could The Marvels be a major Multiverse Saga revelation in its semi-amusing premise? Days before the sequel to Captain Marvel debuts on the big screen, Collider's Perri Nemiroff noted that musical scores from the X-Men film franchise composed by John Ottman have been listed in the credits for the next MCU project. Nemiroff recently sat down with composer Laura Karpman who played coy when asked why the music from the Fox universe of Marvel characters was credited in the MCU production. Audiences will have to wait and see what this could mean for the future of the franchise, as Karpman responded:...

Post-credits scenes have become popular in recent years, but some horror movies' scenes have gone nowhere, leaving audiences wondering what happened. Movies like "The Green Inferno" and "Slither" had intriguing post-credits scenes that set up potential sequels, but never followed through. Even though post-credits scenes in horror movies don't always lead to continuations, they still provide exciting teases that keep viewers engaged until the very end.

Post-credits scenes have become a common addition to movies from any genre, but horror movies don’t usually join the trend – however, some horror movies have had post-credits scenes that ended up leading absolutely nowhere. Although post-credits scenes are not a new practice in the film industry, they have become a lot more popular in recent years, in large part thanks to superhero universes like the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe. Post-credits scenes can now be found in movies from all genres,...

The best legacy sequels concern themselves with the weight of the decades that have passed and the long-term effects of the events separated by the gulf of time between entries. While these stories occur across the wide spectrum of entertainment, the horror genre is uniquely positioned to explore such follow ups. After all, just as years affect a life, so too does the horrors of one blood-soaked Halloween night.

Long before Halloween (2018) brought Jamie Lee Curtis back into the fold as Laurie Strode in an effort to explore her deeply repressed trauma, Halloween H20 (1998) set out to accomplish just that. Itself twenty years removed from John Carpenter’s original Halloween (1978), Halloween H20 is one of the most successful films of its kind and a high point for the franchise, providing emotional depth and a satisfying conclusion to Laurie Strode’s narrative. It may have hit theaters in early August, but its chilly,...

Beginning an X-Men movie by quoting Abraham Lincoln can sound like a loaded choice. It can also be sublime, as was the case in X2, which 20 years ago opened on a solemn recitation of Lincoln’s closing remarks during his first inaugural address in 1861: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.”

So starts one of the best sequences in any superhero movie: Nightcrawler’s less-than-sanguine visit to what is almost assuredly the George W. Bush White House.

X2 landed like a thunderbolt after the first X-Men of 2000 was praised for many things by fans, but not its action sequences. Hampered by a sparse budget of $75 million and a timetable that was cut six months short by studio 20th Century Fox, X-Men relied on the strength of its casting—particularly Hugh Jackman as Wolverine,...

An abandoned X-Men movie script accurately represented Cyclops as seen in Marvel Comics and would have finally done justice to the live-action version of him. After audiences complained Marvel had too many solo heroes on the superhero roster back in the early 1960s, the X-Men were created. The team comprised a handful of mutants, all with different personalities and abilities, making them quite a formidable superhero team. Professor Charles Xavier, who dreamt of peaceful coexistence between mutants and humans, led the team and recruited five young mutants who would be able to help him achieve that goal.

Scott Summers was part of the original X-Men lineup, and he's always been a prominent member of the team. X-Men's Cyclops used a visor to help control his powers and became known for being able to project a powerful beam of concussive, red energy from his eyes. Summers was featured in...

While hiring writers that are Marvel fans for Marvel projects seems like an easy decision, one abandoned X-Men movie proves that the company is right to hire writers beyond the fanbase. It may seem strange that more comic fans and comic writers aren't given the task of penning MCU or Dcu blockbusters. However, there's ample evidence that the task is often best left to writers with extensive experience writing films.

In a recent interview with The Ringer’s The Town with Matt Belloni, Marvel Studios executive Nate Moore described why he finds fan writers for Marvel movie releases to be ill-advised. He wants creators who can think critically about the source material instead of “’[a writer] to already have a pre-existing idea of what [the project] is, because [the writer] grew up with Issue 15 and that’s what [the writer] want[s] to recreate...’” (via The Direct). This line of thought can extend beyond general fans and include even...

An abandoned Fox X-Men film would have featured Wolverine in costume on the big screen at last. Mutants have finally become part of the MCU, and it's only a matter of time until the X-Men make their debut as part of the shared universe. This was only possible because, back in 2019, Disney finally acquired the bulk of Fox's film and TV empire. The acquisition brought an end to Fox's X-Men franchise, and a number of films were abandoned. Since then, though, details have emerged that show what audiences have missed out on.

One of the stranger ideas was for X-Men: Fear the Beast, designed as a contiation for the main X-Men stories - starring Nicholaus Hoult as beast and, surprisingly, what seems to be Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. Written by Byron Burton over just a fortnight, it was set in the late '80s and kicked off in an Inuit...

To comic book fans, X-Men is one of the most fruitful franchises in the Marvel stable. Not only have the heroes that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created in 1962 launched numerous other teams, including X-Factor and the New Mutants, but many of its characters have gone on to star in their own solo series, including Storm, Cable, and, of course, Wolverine. But that’s not been the case for the mutants’ movie counterparts. While Wolverine has enjoyed a trio of solo movies of wildly different quality, and Deadpool’s third outing is in the works, the X-Men on screen have been largely relegated to being team players.

Of course, 20th Century Fox wanted to create more solo movies after X-Men Origins: Wolverine, including stand-alone adventures for Magneto and Professor X. However, between Wolverine’s poor performance, itself preceded by the lackluster X-Men: The Last Stand three years earlier, solo projects...

October is obviously a busy month for physical media lovers, and Scream Factory is a big part of that with their upcoming Halloween 4K Collection (1995 – 2002). Announced today are the final specs and special features for the collection, which for fans of the Producer’s Cut of The Curse of Michael Myers, includes a brand-new 4K scan of the original negative!

Here’s the rundown for the set, which arrives on October 4:

Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers (1995) Disc One (4K Uhd – Theatrical Cut):

New 2022 4K Scan From The Original Camera Negative In Dolby Vision (Hdr 10 Compatible) DTS-hd Master Audio 5.1, 2.0 New Audio Commentary With Screenwriter Daniel Farrands And Actress Marianne Hagan, Moderated By Filmmaker Michael Perez

Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers (1995) Disc Two (4K Uhd – Producer’S Cut):

New 2022 4K Scan From The Original Camera Negative In Dolby Vision (Hdr 10 Compatible) DTS-hd Master Audio 5.1, 2.0 Audio Commentary With...

While Bryan Singer‘s X-Men arguably helped usher in the modern era of superhero movies, it was only considered a modest success by comic book fans. While everyone was blown away by Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, people pointed at the Matrix-inspired fight scenes, the score and costumes (particularly Storm’s wig) as things they didn’t like. The film was so successful that for the sequel, X2: X-Men United, Singer was given a bigger budget and much more freedom to make the X-Men epic he always dreamed of. The result is a movie many still consider the best of the X-Men saga, although, sadly, the teased “Dark Phoenix” follow-up would fall to a different director and result in perhaps the worst film of the series. But the X-Men were riding high for one brief shining moment in 2003.

The movie contains many signature X-Men moments, beginning with Nightcrawler’s...

The American Cinema Editors gathered with production designers, set decorators and more as a sign of solidarity to push the Academy for inclusivity as they look ahead to the 2023 Academy Awards.

Releasing a video statement that opens with a quote from director Francis Ford Coppola, “The essence of cinema is editing,” the editors addressed the Academy’s decision to trim eight categories from the main broadcast and pre-record the winning speeches in the “Golden Hour.”

The message was direct, “We feel cheated, insulted and angry by the way our art was deemed superfluous in favor of bloated performances and spectacle.” As they pleaded with other crafts to join in the call, they asked that in the future their voice be included in the conversation, “Give us a voice in this process. Let us work together to find a solution that truly honors filmmaking and assure this never happens again.”

Leading up to the Oscars,...

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the largest union representing behind-the-scenes workers in North America, has joined the growing number of critics expressing their disapproval of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ decision to pre-record eight craft categories at the Oscars.

The eight categories to be aired retroactively as part of the awards broadcast on March 27 include film editing, make-up and hairstyling, production design, animated short and sound.

The statement released by IATSE President Matthew Loeb said, “By the nature of our jobs, behind the scenes, workers get little recognition as is, despite being the backbone of every production. The Academy Awards has been virtually the only venue where the very best on and off the big screen, above and below the line gather to honor each other’s incredible contributions through their crafts, inspiring millions who tune into the TV Broadcast in the process. We...

The hardest blow is the feeling that their work doesn’t matter as much as other filmmaking disciplines. That was the sentiment shared by a panel of veteran artisans who represent the craft categories that will no longer be presented live at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony on March 27.

“What offends me is that somebody in the Academy would claim to or imply that they know which crafts are more important and more deserving of respect than time than other crafts,” said Randy Thom, a two-time Oscar winner for sound. Thom was among the participants in the “Variety Artisans: Special Report” virtual panel, moderated by Jazz Tangcay, Variety‘s Senior Artisans Editor, to examine the fallout from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ decision to reformat the Oscars ceremony this year.

Like the other panelists, Thom is no stranger to the Academy Awards. He’s been nominated...

Variety will shine a spotlight on the controversy over changes to this year’s Academy Awards telecast with a virtual panel featuring Oscar winners and current nominees in the award categories that will be removed from the live telecast.

“Variety Artisans: Special Report” will be available for viewing Friday, March 4 on Variety.com. Moderated by Jazz Tangcay, Senior Artisans Editor for Variety, the lineup features past Oscar winners and current nominees in the eight craft- and technology-focused categories that will no longer be presented live as part of ABC’s March 27 telecast of the 94th Academy Awards.

“Variety pioneered deep coverage of the artisans of the entertainment world back in the 1990s. Every year we’ve increased our commitment to insightful crafts coverage and broadening readers’ understanding of its importance to the entertainment arts,” said Steven Gaydos, Variety’s executive vice president of global content. “Behind the current headlines about the 2022 Oscar telecast changes,...

It isn’t often that an Academy governor publicly criticizes the Academy itself, but that happened today when music-branch governor Laura Karpman issued a statement condemning the Academy’s plan to drop the music-score Oscar presentation from the live telecast on March 27.

She was sharply critical of both the decision and the process. Her statement, issued this morning on all her social media accounts, reads: “I am shocked that the officers of the Academy denied the Board of Governors the opportunity to vote and participate in the decision to exclude the music branch in the live broadcast.

“This is literally a wound in the heart of the music community,” she continued. “Thank you to the many members of the music branch who have spoken out. I hear you loud and clear. I stand with you.”

Karpman, a governor of the 402-member music branch since 2016, declined any further comment. But her stance is widely supported within,...

On Tuesday night, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced to its members a significant change to the upcoming 2022 Oscars broadcast. Eight different category winners will be revealed to assembled industry personnel at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, but it won’t happen live on the air. These trophies will be handed out one hour prior to the “official” start of the show (as A-listers are making their red carpet arrivals) and then the acceptances will be edited (and likely truncated) into the show later.

This will, the thinking goes, tighten up the length of the ceremony for home viewers. “For the audience at home, the show’s flow does not change, though it will become tighter and more electric with this new cadence, and the live broadcast should end – yes, with the Best Picture category – at the three-hour mark,” Academy president Dave Rubin wrote in a letter to AMPAS members.

John Ottman is, unquestionably, a workhorse talent in Hollywood. For decades, he has been the creative genius behind musical scores for dozens of major motion pictures, including Valkyrie, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Gothika, The Usual Suspects, as well as all the Bryan Singer X-Men films.

In addition to and often at the same time as (more on that later), he has earned great acclaim as a film editor. In 2019, he was awarded the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for his work on Bohemian Rhapsody.

So if he's not the first name to come to mind when you think, "Director," you could be forgiven. However, after taking the lead on Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 4, we will all be looking and hoping for him to return to the chair again soon. (#Spoileralert if you haven't watched the episode yet.)

Speaking with TV Fanatic from his home in Los Angeles, Ottman...

“Bohemian Rhapsody,” one of the more controversial Oscar winners in recent memory, could be getting a sequel down the road. Guitarist Brian May originally cast doubt on a sequel last summer, telling Rolling Stone, “We don’t really think there’s another movie there. That’s the long and the short of it…I think we should look somewhere else. There are other ideas that we had, but I don’t think a sequel will happen.” But May appeared to change course during an Instagram Live this week (via NME), telling Queen fans that sequel ideas are now being considered.

“We are looking at it. Yeah, we have been looking at ideas,” May said. “It’s going to be hard to follow that one as none of us could have predicted how massive that was going to be. We put a lot of heart and soul into making it and...

The 2000s were lousy with remakes, some of them good, many of them lousy. Major horror franchises from the 1980s got a makeover; subversive ‘70s horror films received a glossy new coat of paint. One of the best of these remakes – and one which has finally begun getting its due over the last decade, building a cult audience and culminating in a new special edition Blu-ray – is House of Wax from 2005. It reimagines the 1953 Vincent Price classic (itself a remake of 1933’s Mystery of the Wax Museum) for a modern audience: gorier, sexier, and considerably more twisted. I’m certainly not the first to say it, but it’s more a remake of 1979’s underrated Tourist Trap than it is of House of Wax. As a remake of Tourist Trap, it’s pretty fantastic.

TV stars Elisha Cuthbert and Chad Michael Murray (One Tree Hill) play brother and sister on...

While it may not be Friday the 13th, Tuesday the 13th is still shaping up to be a great day for horror fans, as we have a ton of great Blu-ray and DVD releases to look forward to. For all you Phans out there, Well Go USA has put together a new box set celebrating the Phantasm series, complete with a replica silver sphere to boot, and for those of you who have been looking forward to Scream Factory’s Collector’s Edition Blu of the House of Wax remake, your wait is nearly over. In terms of new horrors headed home this week, Held, Monster Seafood Wars, Queen of Spades and The Night (2020) are being released on Tuesday as well. And if you happened to miss it in theaters or on HBO Max earlier this year, you can finally catch up with the new Mortal Kombat tomorrow on a variety of formats.

Scream Factory will release their Collector's Edition Blu-ray of 2005's House of Wax on July 13th, and we have a look at the official cover art and list of bonus features:

Los Angeles, CA – Prey. Slay. Display. On July 13, 2021, Scream Factory proudly presents the modern cult classic House of Wax (2005) in the ultimate Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release, featuring a new 2K scan of the interpositive. The release comes packed with bonus features including new interviews with actors Paris Hilton and Robert Ri’Chard, composer John Ottman and makeup effects artist Jason Baird. Fans who order from shoutfactory.com will also receive an exclusive poster featuring brand-new artwork, while supplies last.

Thrills and chills ooze all over you in House of Wax, from Dark Castle Entertainment and legendary horror producers Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis. Elisha Cuthbert leads an all-star cast that includes Chad Michael Murray, Brian Van Holt, Paris Hilton,...

The films in the running for the 2021 Best Film Editing Oscar are: Yorgos Lamprinos (“The Father”), Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”), Frédéric Thoraval (“Promising Young Woman”), Mikkel E.G. Nielsen (“Sound of Metal”) and Alan Baumgarten (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”). Our current odds indicate that “Sound of Metal” (69/20) will take the prize, followed in order by “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (71/20), “Nomadland” (9/2), “The Father” (9/2), and “Promising Young Woman” (9/2)

Of the five individuals in this year’s lineup, only Baumgarten has been nominated before. He, Jay Cassidy, and Crispin Struthers were collectively recognized for “American Hustle” in 2014 but lost to Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger (“Gravity”).

Any one of the newcomers could become the fifth cutter in eight years to prevail on their first outing. Sanger was the first, followed by Margaret Sixel, John Ottman, and Andrew Buckland.

Predict the 2021 Oscar winners through April 25

“Nomadland” editor Chloé Zhao is also in...

Twiiiiiiiins. After checking in with the for-sure lesbians in Dario Argento’s Tenebrae and the maybe-lesbians of Jamie Babbit’s The Quiet, we’re heading back 20 years to revisit John Ottman‘s slasher sequel Urban Legends: Final Cut! The film takes place at Alpine University, where one senior student will be awarded the prestigious Hitchcock Award for best thesis film […]...

First Artists Management, the Los Angeles-based talent agency specializing in composers and music supervisors, is expanding its operations by opening an office in London and hiring two new agents.

Hamish Duff joins First Artists from independent management and publishing company Involved Productions. He will head the London office and oversee all U.K. and European operations, “creating a Transatlantic approach to representation,” said First Artists founder Vasi Vangelos.

Duff joins First Artists with his clients including Solomon Grey, Clark, Alex Baranowski, Will Gregory, Blanck Mass, Hannah Peel, Nico Casal, and The Grandbrothers. This is believed to be the first major U.S. composer agency to establish an overseas office.

Sabrina Hutchinson will also join Vangelos and son Alexander Vangelos in the Los Angeles office. Hutchinson founded entertainment publicity firm Defiant Public Relations in 2011, specializing in sound and music clients and events. Its roster included composers Rolfe Kent, Gordy Haab, Bear McCreary,...

Shudder has a packed August lineup that should excite any horror fan, including exclusive premieres, classic titles, and special events. Here's a look at their offerings:

From the Press Release:

Host (premieres Thursday, July 30)

Six friends hire a medium to hold a séance over Zoom during lockdown but get far more than they bargain for as things quickly go wrong. Host was shot remotely during quarantine and features practical scares, stunts, and surprises, all filmed by the actors in their own homes. Director Rob Savage (Dawn of the Deaf) never set foot in the same room as his actors at any point during production and instead directed them remotely. Starring: Haley Bishop (Deep State), Radina Drandova (Dawn of the Deaf), Edward Linard (The Rebels), Jemma Moore (Doom: Annihilation), Caroline Ward (Stalling It) and Emma Louise Webb (The Crown). A Shudder Original (Also available on Shudder Canada and Shudder UK)

LA Llorona (premieres Thursday,...

Film editor and composer John Ottman, who won an Oscar for “Bohemian Rhapsody” in 2019, hosted members of the film, television and music communities at the “Aiding Australia” charity dinner and concert held at his West Hollywood home on Sunday evening (Feb. 23). The benefit raised funds to help in the recovery of fire-ravaged Australia, the flames of which have affected the country’s wildlife and habitats.

In attendance were actors Jeremy Renner (pictured above), Michael Keaton (pictured below), Jk Simmons, actor and event sponsor Michael Rosenbaum (“Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum”), as well as illustrator Drew Struzan and Men At Work frontman Colin Hay.

Guests were treated to an intimate performance by Hay, during which he sang acoustic renditions of such classics as “Down Under,” “Who Can it Be Now” and “Overkill.” Men At Work are among Australia’s best known groups and Hay performed alongside his wife, artist Cecilia Noël,...

Urban Legend is the next horror movie to get the reboot treatment as an updated version is now in development at Screen Gems. Colin Minihan has been tapped to write and direct a new take on the 1998 movie. Reportedly, the studio has set the project on the fast track and is currently casting its key roles. Mike Medavoy and Benjamin Anderson are also on board to produce for Phoenix Pictures, with Screen Gems' Eric Paquette and Michael Bitar overseeing the project.

Full details are not yet known about the plot of the Urban Legend Reboot, but the modernized reboot will "introduce an iconic new slasher for the digital age in a world where internet urban legends are born and move at a terrifying pace." Similar to the original, Minihan's reboot will also focus on a diverse group of college students, now investigating a series of murders that "resemble urban legends...

Bong Jong Ho’s South Korean film Parasite continued its remarkable awards-season run tonight, winning the top prize for editor Jimmo Yang at the 70th annual Ace Eddie Awards. It’s the first time the American Cinema Editors has given its marquee Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic) award to a foreign-language pic.

Searchlight Pictures’ Nazi sendup Jojo Rabiit won the Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic) for Tom Eagles, and Axel Geddes took home Best Edited Animated Feature Film for Disney/Pixar’s billion-dollar sequel Toy Story 4. Todd Douglas Miller scooped the Eddie for Best Edited Documentary (Feature) for Neon’s Apollo 11.

See the full list of winners below.

“Oh my god,” Yang said in his acceptance speech. “I definitely didn’t see this coming, so I didn’t prepare a speech, and my brain is going crazy. First of all, this all feels like a dream. I can’t believe this is happening.

The American Cinema Editors guild, which hands out its awards on January 17, has a good track record as a preview of the Oscar winner for Best Picture (17 out of the last 29) and a great one for forecasting who will win the Film Editing Oscar (22 of the last 29). Not surprisingly, it is also fairly prescient when it comes to predicting the five Film Editing Oscar slots; all of this year’s Academy Awards nominees contend for this cutting prize.

In 1992, the Eddies went from three to five nominees (matching that of the Oscars) and in 2000 it split the award in two, with five nominees for each of drama and comedy/musical. Over the past 27 years, 120 of the 135 Oscar nominees for Film Editing had first reaped a Golden Eddie bid; that makes for an accuracy rate of 89%.

The film editors divide their awards for editing between dramas and comedies/musicals. Oscar nominees “Ford v Ferrari,...

American Cinema Editors has spliced together its nominations for the 70th annual Ace Eddie Awards, which recognize outstanding editing in 11 categories of film, television and documentaries. The honorary society will dole out its hardware during the January 17 ceremony at the Beverly Hilton.

Final balloting opens December 16 and closes January 6. Check out the list below.

For the first time, three foreign-language films are among the Eddie Awards nominees — The Farewell, I Lost My Body and Parasite — despite there not being a specific category for films predominantly in a foreign language.

Last year’s big winner on the feature side was Bohemian Rhapsody, which went on to score the Oscar for John Ottman.

Here are the nominees for the 70th annual Ace Eddie Awards:

Best Edited Feature Film (Drama)

Ford v Ferrari

Michael McCusker, Ace & Andrew Buckland

The Irishman

Thelma Schoonmaker, Ace

Joker

Jeff Groth

Marriage Story

Jennifer Lame, Ace

Parasite

Jinmo Yang...

Exclusive: The Musical Anatomy of a Superhero panel is making its way down to San Diego Comic-Con for the seventh year in a row, and the film composer symposium is not only upgrading from the Hilton Indigo Ballroom to Ballroom 20, but Up Oscar winner and composer of The Incredibles and the latest Spider-Man franchise Michael Giacchino will be this year’s guest moderator.

The composer panel will take place on Thursday, July 18 at 11:30 a.m., and this year’s dais of film score-smiths includes Pinar Toprak (Captain Marvel, Krypton), Benjamin Wallfisch (Shazam, Hellboy), Sherri Chung (CW/Wbtv’s upcoming Batwoman, Super Girl), Blake Neely (Batwoman, The Flash) and Christopher Lennertz (Amazon’s upcoming series The Boys, Agent Carter).

As is tradition with Musical Anatomy of a Superhero, fans will get to see unseen footage of upcoming projects like Batwoman and The Boys. The event is produced by Costa Communications and sponsored by Ascap.

As 20th Century Fox’s X-Men film saga comes to an end with the sputtering Dark Phoenix and the long-delayed New Mutants still waiting in the wings, one of the creative forces behind the franchise has revealed a potential Beast spin-off that never happened. John Ottman, who edited and composed X2: X-Men United, X-Men: Days of Future Past, […]

The post Read The ‘Beast’ Spin-Off Script Developed By ‘X-Men’ Editor/Composer John Ottman appeared first on /Film.

We’ve got some interesting details to share with you on another unproduced X-Men movie. It would have been a spinoff film that focuses on Nicholas Hoult’s Beast, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, Wendigo, and Mr. Sinister.

The film would have been called X-Men: Fear the Beast and there was a script written for it by Byron Burton, assistant to franchise editor and composer John Ottman, who described the project as being in the “tenor of John Carpenter’s The Thing where you are in this inhospitable environment.” You can actually read the script here if you want.

The movie was set in the late 80s and starts off in a snow-covered Inuit village that's being stalked by a mysterious creature.

The script then cuts to Hank McCoy, who is living in the X-Mansion and is keeping his mutation in check with a special serum introduced in 2014's Days of Future Past.

Dark Phoenix marks the culmination of the 20-year-old X-Men franchise and honestly, it’s probably the right time. One of the reasons why is that one of its biggest architects over the years, Bryan Singer, has been the subject of some serious sexual misconduct allegations that have caused his reputation to plummet.

Singer directed 2000’s X-Men and 2003’s X2 before returning to the franchise 12 years later for 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past and 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse. According to a new report, however, the filmmaker went Awol during production on the latter two movies.

Deadline says that Singer is known to have failed to turn up for work on his last two X-Men features numerous times, with several other crew members having to fill the void. Specifically, producer Hutch Parker, editor/composer John Ottman, Dp Newton Thomas Sigel and writer/producer Simon Kinberg.

Following Deadline’s story, IndieWire reached out...

Before Dark Phoenix ended up as the conclusion of the X-Men franchise due to the Disney/Fox deal, the studio was planning numerous spinoff movies. One we didn’t previously know about though was a solo film for Nicholas Hoult’s Beast. And it even had a full script completed.

While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, longtime composer and editor of the franchise John Ottman revealed some juicy details about the nixed project. He explained that his then assistant and budding screenwriter Byron Burton pitched him the idea of a standalone adventure for Hank McCoy. Ottman wasn’t won over at that point, but gave Burton the go-ahead when he said he could complete the script in two weeks.

“I said, ‘Knock yourself out, but just know there’s a 95 percent chance no one is ever going to make this.’”

X-Men: Dark Phoenix Gallery 1 of 9

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