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It’s taken a few months, since he lives in the Netherlands, but Eric Andersen finally found time to watch A Complete Unknown. And the troubadour legend, who haunted those same Village clubs during that same time, was…a bit underwhelmed.

“It seemed a little sugarcoated,” he says. ”It was a little two-dimensional. But I found it quite amusing and quite entertaining. I was looking at it more like a cinematic situation than something I knew. I was watching a movie. So, I enjoyed it from that standpoint.”

Then again,...

Oscar winner Angelina Jolie made a special appearance at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday night to present the Trophée Chopard to rising stars Marie Colomb and Finn Bennett. During the glamorous dinner ceremony, Jolie reflected on the power of international cinema to make an impact in times of global turmoil.

“I love international cinema,” Jolie told the star-studded assembly of guests, which included Cannes jury president Juliette Binoche and her fellow jurors, including Halle Berry, Jeremy Strong, Leïla Slimani and Alba Rohrwacher, as well as Quentin Tarantino and Carla Bruni. “We are brought to other lands, into private moments, even on the battlefield, we connect and we empathize. I think of films like ‘My Father Shadow’ [set during the during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis], which is premiering here at Cannes. Anything that is possible to make international cinema more accessible is necessary and welcome.”

“And none of us are naive,” Jolie, whose contributions as a humanitarian are...

Since leaving General Hospital, Nicholas Alexander Chavez’s world has opened up to being part of high-profile projects, walking the red carpet at fancy premieres, and starring in TikTok videos that go viral. He has appeared in TV shows and miniseries and will make a splash on the big screen this summer in the reboot of the iconic horror film I Know What You Did Last Summer. In just a few months, he’ll add another challenge to his quickly growing acting resume: he is set to hit the stage in a Tennessee Williams play.

Read This: Gh alum Chavez dishes on life in the limelight.

Tennessee Williams Revival

People reports that Chavez will star with Baywatch and 2025 Golden Globe nominee Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl) in a revival of Tennessee Williams’s play Camino Real. The cast includes another soap alum, Florencia Lozano, and Frankie J. Alvarez of HBO’s Looking.

Pamela Anderson is returning to the stage!

Following the success of her role in The Last Showgirl, the 57-year-old actress will be starring in the revival of Tennessee Williams‘ play Camino Real taking place this summer at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Williamstown, Mass.

Directed by Dustin Wills, the cast also includes Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story star Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Hocus Pocus 2 actress Whitney Peak.

Keep reading to find out more…The play follows “an American sailor named Kilroy as he navigates a bizarre, surreal town, the Camino Real. Throughout the play, which is fragmented as it features non-linear scenes, Kilroy meets various characters including historical figures like Don Quixote and Lord Byron,” according to People.

This will mark Pamela‘s second theater role. She previously played Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway back in 2022.

If you didn’t know, Pamela is also set to star...

Handsome leading man Richard Chamberlain, who came to prominence in the 1960s medical series “Dr. Kildare” and then became king of the miniseries with such ratings blockbusters as “Shogun” and “The Thorn Birds,” has died. He was 90.

Chamberlain’s death was confirmed to Variety by publicist Harlan Boll. The actor died Saturday, March 29 in Waimanalo, Hawai’i, of complications following a stroke, according to Boll.

“Our beloved Richard is with the angels now,” Martin Rabbett, Chamberlain’s longtime partner, said in a statement. “He is free and soaring to those loved ones before us. How blessed were we to have known such an amazing and loving soul. Love never dies. And our love is under his wings lifting him to his next great adventure.”

Chamberlain’s All-American matinee idol looks stood in the way of his acting career at times until he proved himself onstage in a highly lauded production...

Netflix is about to have another romantic hit on its hands with The Life List, which premieres March 28, 2025, and seems to tick all the boxes that viewers love. It's also a surprisingly authentic movie with some great characters, led by Sofia Carson as Alex Rose, a woman adrift in a pre-mid-life crisis of sorts. When her mother (played by Connie Britton) dies, she leads Alex on an existential scavenger hunt of sorts, pushing her to complete a list of goals the young woman set for herself when she was 13. Along the way, she develops feelings for the lawyer tasked with her mother's will and a doctor she meets at her new job. MovieWeb spoke with Allen and de Souza about the film and their shared love interest, Sofia Carson's Alex Rose.

"I mean, for me now, the two people, Alex and Sofia Carson, are so kind of one and the same,...

Kyle Allen plays Brad and Sebastian de Souza plays Garrett in the new Netflix romantic drama 'The Life List.' They tell MovieWeb's Matt Mahler how great Sofia Carson was to work with, and de Souza shares a bit about his role as Lord Byron in the upcoming film about 'Frankenstein' author Mary Shelley, 'Mary's Monster.'

In 'The Life List,' after the death of her mother, Alex revisits her childhood aspirations, endeavoring to achieve her old goals, only to discover that pursuing these lifelong dreams takes her on an unforeseen and surprising journey.

“And she was the universe.” That’s how Lord Byron’s poem centered around the apocalyptic end of the world concludes. Paradise episode 5 pointed out that an eternal darkness had set upon the outside world and submerged the entire United States underwater. It was what a speaker had predicted during the International Financial Summit in episode 2. Through Byron’s “Darkness,” the show revisits its running theme of human greed and how their selfishness has destroyed the whole planet, forcing the survivors to take shelter in unnatural habitats. An oilman like Kane Bradford reading Byron’s poem couldn’t have been more ironic because conventional fuels are the main contributors to pollution, global warming, and climate change. Kane’s a man who always valued the materialistic things in life. He had kept his wife’s gift, a bookmark, as a souvenir. Yet he failed to understand the true meaning behind the...

Quick Links Guillermo Del Toro’s Crimson Peak Is a Love Letter to Victorian Gothic Horror Crimson Peak Originally Had Two Different Actors in the Lead Roles Crimson Peak Is the Haunted Mansion From Guillermo Del Toro Audiences Never Got to See

Guillermo del Toro's 2015 film Crimson Peak might not be as well remembered as some of his other films, but it's a case study of Gothic romance and mystery. The film stars Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, and Mia Wasikowska in a disturbing and doomed love story between Wasikowska's Edith Cushing and Hiddleston's Thomas Sharpe. In true del Toro fashion, it's a movie that relies heavily on visuals to create the compelling atmosphere its characters inhabit. Overall, its tone feels rather reminiscent of another master of horror, Alfred Hitchcock. Still, del Toro manages to pull off a story that manages both to be an homage and an original. He...

With films like “The Witch” (2015) and “The Lighthouse” (2019), filmmaker Robert Eggers has already strengthened his reputation as a critically celebrated auteur. And in “Nosferatu” (2024), he replaces the expressionist wonder of “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror” (1922) with the somber moodiness of his craft that shapes up the fictional town of 1830s Germany, called Wisburg, which is unaware of the oncoming of evil. In it resides realtor Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) and his newlywed wife, Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp). There’s also their friends Friedrich Harding (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a rich merchant, and Anna Harding (Emma Corrin), who are happily married to each other with two daughters.

“Nosferatu” (2024) is dark and aggressively sensual but Eggers’ vision of the material is more of a treatise on power and evil. He makes the classic story of a real estate agent, Thomas Hutter, going up to the Pennsylvanian hills to secure a property deal with the...

'Tis the season to be ... bloodsucking. Reviews already suggest that director Robert Eggers’ upcoming remake of Nosferatu is terrifying and on par with his previous three acclaimed films. In homage to all things vampire, fans should give credit where its due to the original fanged menace. And no, it’s not Bram Stoker’s Dracula or even the lesser known Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla. It’s actually Lord Ruthven from John William Polidori’s 1819 novella, The Vampyre (which may have been written in equal parts tribute and spite to Lord Byron). Ruthven can be considered the archetype of the vampire figure that has frightened book and cinema fans for two centuries. The curious and fright-fanatic alike should take a deep dive into this obscure book of the horror canon. All the classic tropes that have defined the vampire genre can be found in it. In anticipation of Eggers' entry into this niche,...

Nosferatu's first SpongeBob SquarePants cameo was comic relief to a creepy episode. The iconic vampire has since reappeared across multiple seasons, cementing his place in the show's canon.

Nosferatu is well-acquainted with SpongeBob SquarePants fans; Count Orlok has frequently visited Bikini Bottom since his Season 2 appearance. The show ventured into quirky dark humor in "Graveyard Shift", but audiences were likely startled by the vampire's sudden presence. His first cameo was played for laughs, but his black-and-white presence contrasted with that scene's cartoon saturation. The jarring experience was so memorable that the show made him a recurring character like Mary, Barnacle Boy, and Mermaid Man. In an interview with THR, director Robert Eggers acknowledged how SpongeBob SquarePants revived Nosferatu as a pop culture icon.

Related First Nosferatu Trailer Asks You to Succumb to the Darkness

Focus Features debuts the official trailer for Robert Eggers' gothic horror film, Nosferatu, a remake...

Bill Skarsgard was relieved to “let go of the chains” of Count Orlok when he finished working on ‘Nosferatu’.The 34-year-old actor stars as the vampire in the upcoming horror flick - which is a reimagining of the silent 1922 film ‘Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror’ - and has admitted he was elated to be set free from the “intense” character after production on the picture concluded.Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Skarsgard said: “Wrapping the movie was a relief.“Everything that he represents is so intense, I was happy to let go of the chains he had on me.”While Count Orlok may have been a challenge for Skarsgard, the ‘It’ actor emphasised he was very excited to work with director Robert Eggers on the film, and added the moviemaker’s script for ‘Nosferatu’ “floored him”.He said: “I was like, ‘Oh, my God, this is so exciting.’“The script...

The following contains light spoilers for Nosferatu, which releases in theaters on December 25.

Robert Eggers' Nosferatu features the most unusual sort of love triangle.

In an exclusive conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Nosferatu's cast spoke about resurrecting the iconic 1922 German horror film and making its villain, Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) feel like a more grotesque take on vampire mythos. This includes his connection to Thomas Hutter's (Nicholas Hoult) wife Ellen, which actor Lily-Rose Depp described as a "physically and emotionally demanding" performance in terms of making their bond feel both haunting and sexual.

Related ‘Maybe’: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Revival Gets a Promising Update From Sarah Michelle Gellar

In every generation, there is a chosen Slayer and Sarah Michelle Gellar played the best one, and she gave an exciting answer about the revival.

"The darkness she's carried within her since she was younger is now coming to a head.

What would you ask the British star of film and TV and patron saint of safety pins?

Elizabeth Hurley has spent the past three decades tirelessly making British culture a little bit more glamorous. She rose to fame in the early 1990s, having made her feature debut in 1988’s Rowing with the Wind, a windswept Mary Shelley biopic with Hugh Grant as Lord Byron.

Hurley’s breakthrough came in the Wesley Snipes plane thriller Passenger 57 (1992), as a henchwoman disguised as a flight attendant, before taking the lead in 1995’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen, about an upper-class heroin addict who begins an affair with her motorbiking drugs courier.

It's an understatement to say that Ken Russell made distinctly twisted, controversial films, infusing new meaning into the term "unpredictable." Sure, this brand of filmmaking is a bit of an acquired taste, but it has merit no less, as his experimental, no-holds-barred approach led to some truly unique cinematic experiences. Apart from his rather mainstream (and brilliant) "Women in Love," Russell made fictionalized retellings of real events, such as his "Gothic," which expands upon the Shelleys visiting Lord Byron in Villa Diodati within a jarring horror framework. More controversial works include "The Devils," and Russell's 1980 sci-fi horror feature "Altered States," itself a psychedelic-adjacent trip into a bizarre, delirious labyrinth about identity and altered states of consciousness.

Two mega-popular actors made their acting debut in "Altered States:" William Hurt, who plays leading man Eddie Jessup, and Drew Barrymore, who plays Eddie's younger daughter, Margaret Jessup. Barrymore was only five when she starred in Russell's film,...

On Monday 30 September 2024, Talking Pictures TV broadcasts The Writing on the Wall!

Season 1 Episode 5 Episode Summary

In the upcoming episode titled “The Writing on the Wall” of *Talking Pictures TV*, viewers will follow Mike Read as he embarks on an intriguing journey to discover the stories behind the famous Blue Plaques. These plaques mark significant locations in the UK and celebrate the lives of notable figures throughout history.

As Mike explores various sites, he will uncover the fascinating tales of many interesting characters, including Richard I, King John, Marilyn Monroe, Lord Byron, and William Hayley. Each figure has left a unique mark on history, and Mike will delve into their contributions, exploring how they shaped the world around them.

This episode promises to be both educational and entertaining, offering viewers a deeper understanding of the lives of these remarkable individuals. Mike Read’s engaging storytelling will make the histories come alive,...

by Cláudio Alves

The Girl With The Needle may have benefited from a different title, different expectations.

Like last year, my 2024 TIFF journey was marked by many a Best International Film Oscar submission. I've already written about some of them, including contenders from Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Palestine, and Portugal. Now, as this protracted post-festival coverage reaches its end – got to move on to NYFF at some point – let's consider the official submissions from Denmark and Bulgaria. The Cannes-competing The Girl with the Needle from Magnus von Horn, and the TIFF-premiering Triumph by Petar Valchanov and Kristina Grozeva dramatize shocking true stories that prove Lord Byron was right. Truth really is stranger than fiction…...

Season 1, Episode 5 of “The Writing on the Wall” is set to air at 5:25 Pm on Monday, September 30, 2024, on Talking Pictures TV. In this engaging episode, host Mike Read embarks on an intriguing journey to uncover the stories behind various Blue Plaques, which commemorate significant figures in history. This week, viewers can expect to learn about a diverse array of fascinating characters, including the legendary Richard I and the notorious King John, whose lives shaped English history in profound ways.

The episode also dives into the glamorous world of Marilyn Monroe, exploring her impact on film and culture, as well as the poetic legacy of Lord Byron. Additionally, the show highlights the contributions of William Hayley, a lesser-known yet interesting figure. Through these narratives, Mike Read brings to life the histories that have left their mark on society.

“The Writing on the Wall” combines history, storytelling, and cultural insights, making...

The Sandman season 2 cast brings back most of the major characters from the first season, while adding some important new names and faces to continue the Neil Gaiman storyline into its next chapter. Originally released in 1996, The Sandman comics told the story of Morpheus, also known as Dream, the ruler of the Dreaming. As one of the Endless, Dream is the being responsible for bringing dreams and nightmares into the minds of humans the true figure behind the folk tales of the Sandman. However, when a wizard captures him, he ends up imprisoned for 70 years, eventually escaping to find his entire realm has fallen to ruins.

The first season of the Netflix adaptation saw Morpheus reclaiming the dreams and nightmares that escaped to the real world, including the Corinthian, who became a serial killer. The story of Sandman season 2 will encompass The Seasons of Mists, which is one of the...

Rob and Rylan embarked on their journey with heavy hearts and open minds. Still healing from their divorces, they hoped exploring Italy’s rich cultural treasures might provide respite and spark new perspectives. With Rob serving as a high-culture guide and Rylan soaking up history with humor and humility, they bonded over breathtaking art and architectural wonders in Venice, Florence, and Rome.

But their trip became about far more than just experiencing the cities Byron traversed centuries past. By sharing vulnerabilities and encouragement, the pair formed an unlikely friendship that blossomed across their adventures. Whether floating down Venetian canals or climbing Florence’s iconic Duomo, they comforted each other through joy and pain alike. Rylan’s enthusiasm opened Rob to feeling deeply, while Rob’s erudition unlocked Rylan’s innate intelligence and passion for learning.

Together they came to understand culture’s power to inspire, uplift, and connect us regardless of background.

Batman is a character that has one of the most unique personalities, classifying as the Byronic hero. He is perhaps one of the most successful superheroes in the United States of America. There have been adaptations one after the other to tell the tale of the Caped Crusader. Live action adaptations, movies, television shows, animated and games, Batman is everywhere.

Batman Ninja | Credit: Warner Bros. Entertainment

For a Japanese adaptation, there needed to be certain changes in the character of Batman, giving rise to Batman Ninja. While the unique perspective given was one loved by fans worldwide, there was a very specific reason to turn him into a ninja instead of letting him roam the nights as the billionaire playboy that his reputation sees him be.

Batman’s Peculiar Reputation in Japan

Leo Chu, the screenwriter of Batman Ninja talked about how the entire identity of Batman had to be...

It can't be over already!

This season's final episodes covered a dizzying amount of ground as betrayals and juicy reveals stacked up and threatened to leave no way out for both of our Lady Whistledowns and most of their gentle readers.

It was often ridiculous and thoroughly enjoyable.

Colin Continues to Evolve

Colin's discovery of Pen's secret was a miracle of succinct heartbreak.

Related: It's Time to Admit That Friends to Lovers is the Best Romantic Trope on Television

It was the first of many scenes where our hero spilled what can only be described as the handsomest of tears.

Luke Newton completely embodied Colin's emotional journey as the well-traveled Bridgerton who discovered he still had room to grow as a man.

He's cultivated a smooth persona that operates at a bit of a distance, so it's refreshing to watch that crumble as conflicts with his family and Pen...

Groundskeeper Willie, the aggressively Scottish handyman who works for Springfield Elementary School on "The Simpsons," first appeared in the episode "Principal Charming", the one where Principal Skinner (Harry Shearer) attempted to seduce and marry Aunt Patty (Julie Kavner). Skinner and Patty bond over their mutual grumpiness, as he is a stern taskmaster with his students and she is a general misanthrope. Groundskeeper Willie doesn't play a major part in the story, except when Bart (Nancy Cartwright) breaks into his supply shed to steal grass killer. Skinner will pull a similar prank later in the episode. Willie has two lines in the episode: "You'll be back" and "I told you you'd be back." 

Groundskeeper Willie (Dan Castellaneta) went on to appear in at least 53 additional episodes of the series, a number that will only continue to grow. He has been greased up by Lunchlady Doris (Doris Grau), fallen in love with his tractor,...

Rupert Everett landed in Turin, Italy, on Thursday to collect the Star of the Mole, the special award given by the National Cinema Museum to personalities who have left an indelible mark on the world of cinema and society. The award — a pink star — is presented during the Lovers Film Festival, Europe’s oldest gay festival (this is its 39th edition), directed by Vladimir Luxuria, who says that “Rupert Everett was one of the first international stars to come out and fight for civil rights.”

In accepting the honor, Everett joins a list of previous honorees that includes the likes of Oliver Stone, Tim Burton, Malcolm McDowell, Monica Bellucci and many others.

The British actor, who turns 65 on May 29, came out publicly in 1989, five years after he made an indelible impression as a double agent in Marek Kanievska’s drama Another Country. The film was an adaptation of Julien Mitchell...

In the immortal words of Lord Byron, the truth is often stranger than fiction. No timeless adage better applies to The Iron Claw, Sean Durkin’s riveting and emotionally fraught biographical tale of the Von Erich brothers, professional wrestlers who rose to prominence in the early 1980s. Based on the true events that shaped the Von Erich family, the film careens down a path of such unmistakable triumph and unthinkable tragedy that one can only sit back and wonder how much, if anything, was embellished or fabricated to increase the dramatic stakes of the story. In particular, the movie explores the lasting effects of “The Von Erich Curse,” which affected the lives of each family member in different ways through a profoundly unfortunate set of circumstances that downright defy belief.

Although the film has received unanimous praise for its stark realism and gritty authenticity, it’s worth exploring the minor...

The story behind the novel is almost as famous as the novel itself: in the summer of 1816, Mary Shelley and her husband Percy Shelley traveled to Lake Geneva on a trip with her stepsister Claire Claremont and Claire’s lover, poet Lord Byron. Because of the abnormally cold weather, the foursome were forced to stay indoors for nearly the entire trip, and to pass the time, Byron proposed a challenge to see who could write the scariest ghost story. Mary, a woman with a taste for the macabre, was inspired by a discussion of galvanism, a scientific theory that electricity could stimulate or create life, to write what she first thought would be a short story: the tale of a young, ambitious student playing God and creating an abomination in the process.

From that idea came quite possibly the most influential and iconic horror novel in history. Published two years later in 1818, “Frankenstein; or,...

Anne Edwards, dubbed “The Queen of Biography” for her work on best-selling books about the actresses Vivien Leigh and Katharine Hepburn, as well as 14 other celebrity biographies, died on Jan. 20 in Beverly Hills, Calif. She was 96 and her daughter said she passed from lung cancer at a senior living facility.

In addition to her biographies, the prolific writ.er had eight novels, three children’s books, two memoirs and one autobiography.

A child performer on radio and the stage, Ms. Edwards sold her first screenplay in 1949, when she was 22.

Her first novel, the mystery The Survivors arrived in 1968; and her first biography, of Judy Garland, in 1975.

Her “Vivien Leigh: A Biography” (1977) spent 19 weeks on The New York Times’s hardcover best-seller list.

Edwards also wrote biographies of Maria Callas, Ronald Reagan, Barbra Streisand and Diana, Princess of Wales.

Her...

Unlike a movie, a TV show is not generally meant to be consumed in a single sitting. It is, at least in theory, designed to be enjoyed episode by episode. So having already celebrated the best series of the year (and the best TV performances), we’re here now to highlight a few individual chapters that particularly stood out to us from our hundreds and hundreds of hours of viewing.

As a rule, we excluded any title that had already made either of our individual top 10s. (Sorry, Richie episode of The Bear. And “Long, Long Time” from The Last of Us. And half this season of Succession. Half this season of Reservation Dogs. And, and, and …) This was in part to save ourselves the trouble of singing praises we’ve already sung so many times before, but mostly in an effort to spread the love. For the same reasons,...

Voyager broke a Star Trek rule by depicting the original Amelia Earhart, unlike other historical figures who were clones or holograms. The inclusion of the real Amelia Earhart provided a concrete explanation for her disappearance and referenced the popular theory of her abduction by aliens. Earhart's interactions with Captain Janeway showcased the parallels between them as pioneering women in their respective fields, leaving a memorable mark on the franchise.

Amelia Earhart (Sharon Lawrence) on Star Trek: Voyager broke a franchise rule just like Star Trek: The Next Generation had previously. Like the rest of the franchise, Voyager would sometimes depict real-life historical figures when it was necessary to the plot. Some of the real people in Voyager episodes included Isaac Newton, Ghadi, Lord Byron, Socrates, and a few memorable appearances of the holographic Leonardo da Vinci. However, the first historical figure to appear on Voyager was Amelia Earhart.

The USS...

John William Polidori was in the room with Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, and Percy Shelley when they issued the storytelling challenge that resulted in Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein. Polidori’s contribution to this challenge was the short story The Vampyre, published in 1819 – and Deadline reports that Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) has signed on to star in an adaptation of The Vampyre that’s called The Vampyre: Blood & Ink.

First-time writer Rosanna Hamlin is working with playwright Trisha Ward on the screenplay. The story begins with Lord Ruthven, a mysterious and magnetic nobleman who captivates London society with his charismatic charm. Aubrey, a young Englishman, becomes infatuated with Ruthven and is drawn into a world of secrets and supernatural horror. As Aubrey uncovers the truth about Ruthven’s sinister nature, he finds himself trapped in a perilous battle against the allure of the vampire’s deadly powers. Deadline notes that...

New Direction

One Direction star Niall Horan is set to cameo on rail-themed Channel 4 digital series, “Trainspotting with Francis Bourgeois.”

Produced by Untold Studios, the series sees TikTok creator Bourgeois introduce celebrities to the obscure hobby.

Horan will join Bourgeois for a “day of locomotive escapades” starting at Liverpool Street Station in London – but will a series of train cancelations and delays scupper their plans?

During the episode, which is available from June 14 on Channel 4’s YouTube, Horan reveals a very personal connection to trains, telling Bourgeois that his grandfather was a train driver. Movie buffs will also be thrilled to discover Horan’s grandfather drove the train in “The Great Train Robbery.”

Series Lab Dana Blankstein-Cohen

The second edition of the Sam Spiegel Series Lab, which was established last year by the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School, with the support of Netflix, and artistic consultancy of Hagai Levi...

Have you ever had a vacation so iconic that people are still talking about it over two centuries later? Mary Shelley sure did, with her infamous getaway alongside Percy Shelley, John Polidori, Claire Clairmont and their host Lord Byron resulting in some of the most influential genre fiction of all time. And while Byron’s Darkness and Polidori’s The Vampyre have their merits, it’s pretty clear that Frankenstein remains the most enduring product of that fateful literary holiday.

That’s why it’s no surprise that we’re still seeing fresh adaptations of The Modern Prometheus well into 2023, with Yorgo Lanthimos’ Frankenstein inspired Poor Things proving that there are still new ways of exploring the tragic horror of Shelley’s immortal yarn. And with so many great adaptations to choose from, we’ve decided to come up with a list celebrating six of the best modern Frankenstein retellings for your viewing pleasure.

The Sandman proved to be a critical success for Netflix after the cast managed to bring the iconic comic book characters to life. Based on the Neil Gaiman comic book series, which ran from 1989-1996, The Sandman mainly follows the life of Dream/Morpheus (Tom Sturridge), who is forced to track down totems of power after he is captured by a wizard and imprisoned in a glass bottle for 106 years later. However, complications soon arose when Dream/Morpheus discovers that many of these totems are in the hands of several powerful entities, and he must bargain with them if he wants to restore his kingdom, the Dreaming, back to its natural state.

While Sturridge perfectly embodies Morpheus/Dream's stubborn and complex personality, he isn't the only character to stand out in The Sandman. Also among the cast are several recognizable and high-profile stars, including Gwendoline Christie, David Thewlis, Joely Richardson,...

Here’s the quickest way to make Brett Goldstein speechless: Ask the “Ted Lasso” star and “Shrinking” co-creator how he feels about becoming a sex symbol. “This is the first I’ve heard of it,” he tells me, after almost doing a spit-take when I bring up what I’ve dubbed “Sexy Brett Goldstein.”

“I’m flattered you’re telling me this, and I will expect you to address me as such from now on,” he says, grinning at the madness of me broaching such a silly topic. “How do I feel about becoming a sex symbol? I don’t know. You can say, ‘He blushes, looks confused, his head explodes.’”

Sexy Brett Goldstein blushes and looks confused. His head explodes. “Listen,” he says, “If that’s a thing, that has nothing to do with me. That has to do with the show, right? Because of the character.”

The way...

More than two centuries after the publication of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, Mary Shelley's powerful prose still resonates with readers and helped lay the foundation for science fiction as we know it, making her the perfect subject for one of the five historical fiction biographies being released digitally in English for the first time from Comixology Originals and Italian publisher Becco Giallo.

Titled Mary Shelley: The Eternal Dream, the graphic novel is written by Alessandro Di Virgilio and features artwork by Manuela Santoni, and ahead of its March 28th release, we've been provided with exclusive preview pages to share with Daily Dead readers!

Below, you can check out our exclusive preview from Mary Shelley: The Eternal Dream, as well as the official press release with additional details on all five historical fiction biographies coming out digitally as part of Amazon's Comixology Originals. To learn more about Mary Shelley: The Eternal Dream,...

Warning: contains spoilers for Doctor Who.

It’s Valentine’s Day, or thereabouts, so there’s romance flipping everywhere. We’re going to look at romance in Doctor Who as interpreted by me, a man whose wife paused tactfully for a few seconds when I told her I was writing this.

Doctor Who very rarely indulges in romance – most of the wooing happens in the theme music – but its lead is cut from similar cloth to one of literature’s most famous Romantic characters. Colin Baker reportedly hoped his Sixth Doctor would be a Mr Darcy figure, initially appearing unlikeable but softening as time went on.

This is the kind of romantic figure the Doctor most often embodies: someone who attempts to rectify mistakes (often their own) to come good at the end of the story. Mostly though this is in terms of saving planets rather than marrying Lizzy Bennet.

This post includes spoilers for "Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special."

The "Harley Quinn" Valentine's Day special has everything: a "When Harry Met Sally"-style framing device featuring two stars from "Abbott Elementary," magical sexcapades between Harley (Kaley Cuoco) and Ivy (Lake Bell), a meet-cute at a Bdsm scene, and whatever the hell was going on with the two halves of Clayface (Alan Tudyk). But it also has something that made all of those things look like an average Tuesday in comparison: "Ted Lasso" star Brett Goldstein playing a sensual version of himself who becomes the object of super-sized Bane's (James Adomian) amorous desires.

Thanks to a report by Entertainment Weekly, we knew before this Valentine's Day special aired that Goldstein would pop up in the new "Harley Quinn" special, but fans may have expected a quick appearance akin to his post-credits role in "Thor: Love and Thunder.

The Bat

Blu-ray

The Film Detective

1959 / 1.85: 1 / 80 Min.

Starring Agnes Moorehead, Vincent Price

Written by Crane Wilbur

Directed by Crane Wilbur

Crane Wilbur’s The Bat is a murder mystery starring Agnes Moorehead and Vincent Price—but the real mystery is how Hollywood managed to pair these diabolically funny entertainers in only one film. They shared little to no screen time in 1951’s The Adventures of Captain Fabian and 1957’s The Story of Mankind, but in Wilbur’s mild-mannered horror show, Moorehead and Price are toe to toe—and generate enough chemistry for a dozen lovably corny crime thrillers just like The Bat.

Despite Price’s presence it’s Moorehead’s show; she plays Cornelia Van Gorder, a prolific mystery writer in the mode of Mary Roberts Rinehart—who, not coincidentally, wrote The Circular Staircase, the source material for the The Bat. As the no-nonsense Van Gorder, Moorehead’s steely...

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Harry Potter stars Alfred Enoch and Bonnie Wright are among those lending their voices to narrate the audiobook of Alan Rickman’s Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman.

In Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman, releasing on Oct. 18, volumes of diary entries written by the late actor running from 1993 to his death in 2016 are shared in which Rickman candidly details his life and career. From inside his home to the sets of films and plays including Sense and Sensibility, Die Hard, the Harry Potter franchise to Noël Coward’s Private Lives and the final film he directed, A Little Chaos, Rickman’s diaries offer insight into both his private and public life.

“Reading them is like listening to Rickman chatting to a close companion. Meet Rickman the consummate professional actor, but also the friend, the traveler, the fan, the director, the enthusiast; in short,...

Executive produced by Bryan Fuller ("Hannibal"), Fangoria's Phil Noble Jr., Kelly Ryan, and Steakhaus Productions, Shudder's "Queer For Fear: The History of Queer Horror" is a formidable four-part docuseries unveiling and gleefully celebrating the genre's queer roots. Asking any docuseries to embody, explain, and dissect the entirety of queer horror cinema is a lot, honey! Frankly, it's equally hard to review this as our community contains multitudes.

What I glean from this as a white, Afab, non-binary, bisexual will be different from what others will. But that's the central point of this project: Every queer creator has a story to tell, and queer audiences will take different things from those scenes based on their experiences. Refreshingly, the talking heads in this piece don't always agree — even on delightful questions like if Mrs. Danvers (from 1940's "Rebecca") is a top or bottom — giving it a conversational tone that welcomes you...

Writer / Director / Actor Halina Reijn discusses some of her favorite movies with Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Rrr (2022)

Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

Gothic (1986)

Warlock (1989)

Annie (1982)

Midsommar (2019) – Dennis Cozzalio’s 2019 year-end movie roundup

Bambi (1942) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary

Annie (2014)

A Woman Under The Influence (1974)

Husbands (1970) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Opening Night (1977)

The Piano Teacher (2001) – Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Black Book (2006)

Elle (2016) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review, Dennis Cozzalio’s 2016 year-end movie roundup

The Fourth Man (1983)

Basic Instinct (1992) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary

Showgirls (1995)

Indecent Proposal (1993)

Fatal Attraction (1987) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

9 ½ Weeks (1986)

Fifty Shades Of Grey (2015)

365 Days (2020)

A History Of Violence (2005)

Last Tango In Paris (1972) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary

Chinatown (1974) – Ernest Dickerson’s trailer commentary

Marathon Man (1976)

The Abyss (1989)

Apocalypse Now (1979) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?...

Tedeschi Trucks Band appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live to perform four of their songs, “Soul Sweet Song,” “La Di Da,” “Playing With My Emotions,” and “I Am the Moon.” The rock ensemble showcased several of the tracks off-air in an exclusive online live stream.

Tedeschi Trucks Band, led by Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, recently unveiled the several parts of I Am the Moon, a 24-song collection that will drop in four installments. The final part, I Am the Moon: IV. Farewell, arrives Aug. 26.

The project is based on The Story of Layla & Majnun,...

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Burt Metcalfe, the onetime actor from Canada who served as a producer, director and writer on all 11 seasons of M*A*S*H, collecting 13 Emmy nominations along the way, has died. He was 87.

One of the show’s unsung heroes, Metcalfe died Wednesday in Los Angeles of natural causes, his wife of 43 years, actress Jan Jorden announced. (She had a recurring role as Nurse Baker on the series.)

Before he gave up full-time acting to work on the other side of the camera, Metcalfe played the surfer Lord Byron opposite Sandra Dee and James Darren in Gidget (1959), appeared on the first season of The Twilight Zone and starred on the 1961-62 CBS sitcom Father of the Bride.

Metcalfe was a producer on all but five of M*A*S*H‘s 256 episodes from 1972-83 and its showrunner for its last six seasons. He...

Right out of the gate, the Tedeschi Trucks Band have always thought big. In 2010, the peak of an indelible pop era that brought us Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and so much more glorious pop, who else would launch a big-band ensemble, complete with a horn section, that blended soul, R&b, blues and Southern rock? The very idea seemed preposterous, especially economically. But the musical and real-life couple Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks went for it, and the hookup of Tedeschi’s reserved but warm delivery (she sounds like she...

Marianne Faithfull has lived several lifetimes in her 74 years. She was only 17 when the pop song “As Tears Go By” turned her into a star overnight in 1964, and she was in her early twenties when her relationship with Mick Jagger made her a tabloid lightning rod. After that ended, she fell deep into drugs, living for a while on the streets, before making a stunning comeback in 1979 with Broken English, an album of dark-hued, New Wave–influenced music that complemented the way her voice had grown deeper and more profound.

January’s genre-related home entertainment releases are ending on a somewhat quiet note, as there are only seven titles making their arrival this week. That being said, this cinematic septet of Blu-rays and DVDs make for a truly fantastic assortment of films, including the Vestron Video Collector’s Series editions of both Class of 1999 and Gothic, as well as stunning special editions for both Re-Animator and the original The Hills Have Eyes.

Other notable movies heading home on January 30th are Hack-o-Lantern, Lucifer’s Women, and Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween.

Class of 1999: Vestron Video Collector’s Series (Lionsgate, Blu-ray)

Robots who have been programmed to teach and discipline students in a violence-prone school turn homicidal, and the students must fight back to save their lives.

Special Features:

- Audio Commentary with Producer/Director Mark L. Lester

- Interviews with Director/Producer Mark L. Lester and Co-Producer...

Amp Written and performed by Jody Christopherson Directed by Isaac James Byrne Presented by Goode Productions at Here, NYC December 5-19, 2017

Imagine, if you will, a frog’s legs, ending abruptly not in a frog but merely in its spine, carefully cleaned of the flesh that once held it. Next, multiply this image, and picture a chain of these macabre trinkets strung out in an elevated location. Finally, conjure in your mind’s eye a lightning strike that sets those legs twitching and jerking of their own accord. This is the one of the first images with which Jody Christopherson’s new play, Amp, confronts the audience, plunging us into a nineteenth-century stew of galvanism, resurrection men, and tragedy-tinged literary legends.

Amp sees Christopherson reunited with Isaac James Byrne, under whose direction we saw her last fall in The Players Theatre run of Sylvia Milo’s The Other Mozart, another one-woman show,...

What if the events that inspired Frankenstein's monster were more horrifying than the monster itself? For the 13th entry in their Vestron Video Collector’s Series, Lionsgate is taking viewers to a fateful night with Mary Shelley and her friends with the Blu-ray release of Ken Russell's Gothic this January:

Press Release: From the Vestron Video Collector’s Series, the horror classic Gothic will arrive for the first time on limited edition Blu-ray on January 30 from Lionsgate. Starring Golden Globe® winner Gabriel Byrne (2009, Best Actor, “In Treatment”), Julian Sands, and Natasha Richardson, and from legendary director Ken Russell (Lair of the White Worm), Gothic is the fictional retelling of the night Mary Shelley developed the story of Frankenstein. While under the influence of experimental substances, she and a group of friends experience terrifying visions that bend reality into her horrific tale. The Gothic limited edition Blu-ray is packed with all-new special features,...

From the Vestron Video Collector’s Series, the horror classic Gothic will arrive for the first time on limited edition Blu-ray™ on January 30 from Lionsgate. Starring Golden Globe® winner Gabriel Byrne (2009, Best Actor, “In Treatment”), Julian Sands, and Natasha Richardson, and from legendary director Ken Russell (Lair of the White Worm), Gothic is the fictional retelling of the night Mary Shelley developed the story of Frankenstein. While under the influence of experimental substances, she and a group of friends experience terrifying visions that bend reality into her horrific tale. The Gothic limited edition Blu-ray is packed with all-new special features, including audio commentaries, isolated score selections, interviews with the cast and crew, and more, and will be available for the suggested retail price of $39.97.

Five famous friends spend a hallucinogenic evening confronting their fears in a frenzy of shocking lunacy and horrifying visions in this fictional tale, which tells the...