News

Ryan Lambie Mar 22, 2017

Fearsome monsters, grasping hands, and a suggestive tree. Here are 10 fantasy movie moments that scarred us as kids...

Sooner or later, you're going to see a scary movie. Whether you sneak down and watch a horror film on late night television, watch a Nightmare On Elm Street sequel round a friend's house or watch clips of slasher movies on YouTube, horror movies are always out there, waiting in the wings for the young and curious.

See related The Last Kingdom series 2 episode 1 review The Last Kingdom series 2: politics, battles and arselings What can we expect from new BBC drama, The Last Kingdom?

But long before most of us graduate to the stage of our lives where we start seeking out 18-rated movies of gore and terror, we reliably encounter scary moments in what might initially seem to be harmless family adventure films.

The 1980s was an...

Who's the best witch in all pop culture-dom?

That's a tough question to answer, since movies and TV have offered us all manner of witchy women. Some are good. Some are bad. Some are beautiful (but aren't so nice inside) and some look scary (but are still a lot of fun). In lieu of power ranking the various pop culture spellcasters, we've heralded their individual achievements with yearbook-style superlatives.

1. Most Improved: Mildred Hubble in The Worst Witch

Mildred (Fairuza Balk) is a witchy underdog. No one at Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches thinks much of Mildred's potential as master of the supernatural elements,...

Aimee Garcia, the lead in CBS’ upcoming adaptation of “Rush Hour,” is joining Jacki Weaver and Alfred Molina in the indie drama, “Sister Cities,” TheWrap has learned. The film, which is based on the play by Colette Freedman, follows four estranged sisters who reunite after their mother’s alleged suicide. Garcia will play Sarah, the lesbian girlfriend of one of the sisters, named Austin (Jess Wexler). Weaver stars as the mother. Co-stars include Amy Smart, Troian Belissario, Tom Everett Scott and Kathy Baker. Sean Hanish is directing and producing for Cannonball Productions. Paul Jaconi-Biery and Eleonore Dailly are producing, while Molina and CBS.

It is a momentous day for Sex and the City fans around the world as Sarah Jessica Parker celebrates her 50th birthday. While the role of Carrie Bradshaw made Sarah a fashion icon and a superstar, she has starred in a wide variety of films and television shows over four decades. Parker began her career as a child star on the stage in Annie, and has gone on to become an enduring fixture in pop culture.

Her movie career was launched with supporting roles in '80s teen comedies Footloose and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, but soon she grew into a leading lady with memorable roles in a string of early 1990s comedies. Parker might be best known for romantic comedies these days, but over the last 30 years she's impressed critics in roles as diverse a mystical witch, an egotistical talkshow host and the embodiment of a single woman of the 2000s.

Less animation, plenty of reality, and another two-hour comedy block reduced — those are some of the quick take-aways from Fox’s 2014 fall schedule announcement.

First up: On Mondays, the network will launch perhaps fall’s most-anticipated new drama, the Batman prequel series Gotham at 8 p.m. followed by the sophomore return of Sleepy Hollow at 9 p.m. Fox has ordered 16 episodes of Gotham and 18 episodes of Sleepy Hollow. On Tuesdays, ambitious new reality show Utopia, in which contestants try to build a perfect society over the course of a year, will open for New Girl and The Mindy Project (which...

With the eve when the veils between worlds is at its thinnest around the corner, it’s difficult not to think of the day’s most prominently featured figure: the witch. Below is an essential viewing list, ranging in genre and targeted age group, of filmic work that showcase witches (loosely defined for our purposes) and show just how badass and horrifying these heralds of the supernatural can be.

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American Horror Story: Coven

Created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk

USA, 2013

This anthology television series, which premiered last week, promises another visually stunning horrifying boundary pushing work with its third season. Coven begins by following young Zoe (Taissa Farmiga), who discovers her supernatural roots in a rather gruesome incident and is then whisked off to a private school for ‘talented’ young women. Set between the present day and the 1830s, Coven promises a panoply of witch-related themes including witch hunts,...

I'll announce 2012's nominees the second the write-ups are done (working on them this week). But until then another listy flashblack to year's past here at The Film Experience. My opinions have changed somewhat over the years (as many opinions should if we continue to evolve) and perhaps I'll detail which changes those were in the future but mostly I like to think of Awards, both mine and other people's as time capsules of What We Valued At That Moment.

So here you go... 

Nominees in Alpha Order

Sally Field, Lincoln

Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables

Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy 

Diane Kruger, Farewell My Queen

Lorraine Toussaint, Middle of Nowhere

write ups here 

Gold: Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus

Silver: Sarah Bayet, A Separation

Bronze: Carey Mulligan, Shame

Also Nominated

Jessica Chastain, The Help

Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids

Gold: Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Silver: Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Bronze: Amy Adams, The Fighter

Also Nominated

Kimberly Elise,...

Sebastián Silva's creepy psychological thriller, starring Juno Temple, lacks the edge of horror it needs to cast a spell

Juno Temple is the siren of Sundance this year. One of Britain's cutest exports, she's in three films at the festival – including this creepy psychological thriller, as Alicia, an awkward young woman who leaves America for the first time, to take a holiday in southern Chile with her cousin Sarah and three of her local friends, including an oddball called Brink. When Sarah has to return to Santiago to take an exam, Alicia becomes anxious. On a deserted island, she gets freaked out by a dog that humps her, and by insecure Brink. She can't sleep, starts to hallucinate and then spirals into madness.

Pale and interesting Temple carries the film, embodying Alicia's descent impeccably. Like Ophelia, "incapable of her own distress," her transformation from fragile to twitchy to hysterical is mesmerizing.

Sarah Spillane’s low-budget feature, Around the Block, points to inventive business models as it seeks to capitalise on the success of indigenous films says Ed Gibbs.

Although noticeably absent during Encore’s set visit, the shadow of the film’s Hollywood star, Christina Ricci, can be felt in the two-storey house in Sydney’s inner west where production is underway for the micro-budget feature Around the Block.

Ricci, who declined to do any press ahead of the film’s release, agreed to sign on to the project after writer/director Sarah Spillane’s producers, Sue Armstrong and Brian Rosen of Tree Films, inked what’s becoming an increasingly popular deal for features from first time filmmakers.

An undisclosed share of the profits, should they be forthcoming, will make up for the modest remuneration received up front.

Sarah Spillane on set

Ricci’s input – filling the role of the arts...

Antony Partos and Sonar Music, the team behind the music of The Slap have led the nominees for the Australian Guild of Screen Composers, announced this morning while Burning Man, Storm Surfers 3D, Santa’s Apprentice and Needle are the four nominees for feature film score.

The announcement:

Today we pay tribute to the leading lights of Australian screen composition with the announcement of nominees for the 2012 Screen Music Awards. The event, to be held this year in Melbourne on Monday November 19th, is jointly staged by Apra (Australasian Performing Right Association) and the Agsc (Australian Guild of Screen Composers). It is the only Australian event where the music and screen industry gather to celebrate excellence in the composition of music for film and television.

Across twelve awards categories Apra and the Agsc are today proud to recognise 61 composers, and 40 works as representing the best in Australian screen composition for...

Nothing else I’ve seen in my time at Tiff approaches the strange power of The Master. Paul Thomas Anderson’s unsettling meditation on the elements that shape a man’s nature is thorny and difficult and towering, with a great, almost frighteningly intense performance by Joaquin Phoenix. It’s yet another striking, consuming work of movie art from one of the most important filmmakers in action today. But I’ll be writing more fully about the movie next week, so hold that thought.

For that matter, nothing else I’ve seen in my time at Tiff approaches the skittery,...

AMC's new series The Killing premiered not too long ago to rave reviews from critics [1], and already its stars are benefiting from the exposure. Either that, or this is simply proving to be a very fortunate time in their careers. First up in casting news is Mireille Enos, who centers The Killing as its know-it-all detective Sarah Linden. She's in talks to star alongside Brad Pitt in World War Z, the adaptation of Max Brooks' zombie bestseller that only recently [2] was recently fast-tracked by Paramount after countless delays and financial troubles. She would play Karin Lane, the wife of Gerard Lane (played by Pitt) and mother of his two children. This marks her first major studio starring role, having otherwise had only a three-season stint on Big Love and a number of bit TV roles. [Deadline [3]] Going in order of importance, let's side track away from The Killing for a...

Jacki Weaver, the Australian actress who earned an Oscar nomination for her terrifying performance in last year's Animal Kingdom, has snagged her first post-Oscar Hollywood role. According to Deadline she's signed on to Five Year Engagement, the Judd Apatow-produced comedy starring Jason Segel and Emily Blunt as a couple who wait the titular fie years to tie the knot. It seems safe to assume that Weaver will be playing the mother of one of the characters, but really you never know-- maybe they've found a way for her to reprise her villainous Animal Kingdom character Smurf in a more comedic context. You never know! The cast already includes a whole lot of funny people, including Alison Brie, Chris Pratt, Rhys Ifans and Lauren Weedman, so Weaver's Oscar nomination is no guarantee she'll be able to steal the whole film for herself again. Nicholas Stoller, who directed Segel in Forgetting...

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival has announced a 2011 lineup that includes the U.S. premiere of the Kristin Scott Thomas film "Sarah's Key," a closing night presentation of the opera film "Carmen in 3D," and a gala world premiere of Mike Pavone's "That's What I Am," a drama starring Ed Harris, Chase Ellison and Molly Parker. Sbiff, which begins on January 27, also announced tributes to actors John Hawkes, Lesley Manville, Hailee Steinfeld and Jacki Weaver, and a special screening of "Toy Story 3" for 4,000 students. The lineup includes 30...

"It happened everywhere in Gatlin that day. That's when Sarah started drawing these pictures...."

If you are a fan of Children of the Corn, then you definitely remember this line as it gave light to the horror that was unfolding in the rural, midwest town of Gatlin, Nebraska. As the town's future was foretold by a child's artisitic hand, what many may not know is that the drawings were, in fact, not drawn by a "child" at all. In actuality, the creative task of creating Sarah's visions was given to illustrator Judeanne Winter Wiley. We recently caught up with Judeanne who took the time to talk with us about Stephen King, daytime drawing and surprising friends.

Cotcm - Before we begin, we would like to thank you Judeanne for taking the time talking with us and the fans about your involvement and insights into the production and creation of the original,...

"It happened everywhere in Gatlin that day. That's when Sarah started drawing these pictures...."

If you are a fan of Children of the Corn, then you definitely remember this line as it gave light to the horror that was unfolding in the rural, midwest town of Gatlin, Nebraska. As the town's future was foretold by a child's artisitic hand, what many may not know is that the drawings were, in fact, not drawn by a "child" at all. In actuality, the creative task of creating Sarah's visions was given to illustrator Judeanne Winter Wiley. We recently caught up with Judeanne who took the time to talk with us about Stephen King, daytime drawing and surprising friends.

Cotcm - Before we begin, I would like to thank you Judeanne for talking with us and the fans about your involvement in the production and creation of Children of the Corn. It...

In honor of Penélope Cruz's recently announced pregnancy and the DVD release of Lindsay Lohan's latest Labor Pains (don't everybody rush out to snatch it up at once. I promise you they'll have enough copies) in which she fakes a pregnancy to keep a job, I thought a top ten list celebrating the miracle of childbirth -- or future childbirth rather -- was called for.

But first a bit more about Ms. Lohan. Rich at fourfour collected the Labor Pain lines that were more applicable to Lindsay the celebrity than the character she happens to be playing.

...not that Lindsay plays characters these days. The Actress wrapped things up with Mean Girls, only The Celebrity lives on.

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Ten Best Pregnant Movie Characters

10 Juno in Juno (2007)

The general three act journey of zeitgeist movies goes like so... Act I: instant hype, audience love and acclaim births a new pop...