Musical Mondays

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It's Monday, the start of the working week. To counter-act the post-weekend blues, cheer yourself up with Radio Weird: Songs of Eerie. Whether you're checking out some of eviinsanemonkey's amazing filks, or taking up deifire's awesome recommendations for Eerie-centric listening, or creating a musical fanwork of your very own, share your thoughts, and your favourites, in the comments!

( Stabbity Steve: a Murder Ballad by Eviinsanemonkey )

( After Wolf Mountain: a Filk by Eviinsanemonkey )

( Pay Attention: a Filk by Eviinsanemonkey )

( Krampus: an Eerie Christmas Poem by Eviinsanemonkey )

( Moo! A World o' Stuff advertising jingle by Eviinsanemonkey )

( Bigfoot Stole My Mail: a Musical by Owen Neil )

( Eerie, Indiana fanvids by Roseveare )

( Weird Science (Don't Leave My Arms): an Eerie, Indiana Melanie/Devon/Marshall fanvid by Current Joys )

PROMPT CHALLENGE: CREATURE FEATURE

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It's the 7th of the month, and that means... CREATURE FEATURE!

Give us fic, give us fanart, give us whatever springs to your mind when you think of our monster of the month:

HIDEBEHIND

Eerie, Indiana DVD rip on Reddit

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See it here.

GhastlyGrinning blog is super excited for Fantasia Fest's line-up

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FIVE FORCES OF FEAR COME TOGETHER FOR A TERRIFYING DOSE OF NIGHTMARE CINEMA

As part of Fantasia’s Opening Night events, the festival will unveil the World Premiere of Cinelou Films' hotly-anticipated anthology NIGHTMARE CINEMA, featuring segments by Joe Dante (GREMLINS), Mick Garris (THE STAND), Alejandro Brugués (JUAN OF THE DEAD), Ryûhei Kitamura (VERSUS), and David Slade (30 DAYS OF NIGHT) with a cast that includes Mickey Rourke, Richard Chamberlain, Adam Godley, Belinda Balaski, Elizabeth Reaser, and Annabeth Gish. It’s always cause for celebration when the acclaimed “Masters of Horror” brew new creations, and seeing their energies distilled into a single feature film will all but make the universe explode. Join us for what’s sure to be a very special night, with all five filmmakers in attendance. Not to mention…

A LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR JOE DANTE!

Fantasia will be presenting a Lifetime Achievement Award to adored US genre legend Joe Dante, a man whose inspired filmography has touched generations of cinephiles. From PIRANHA, THE HOWLING, and the universally-beloved GREMLINS films to INNERSPACE, EXPLORERS, and his bold television work, Dante’s works are electric with witty personality and brim with innovative storytelling and a big-hearted affection for all things film. As Fantasia will be World Premiering his latest work with NIGHTMARE CINEMA, there couldn’t be a better time to honour the great man. Previous recipients of Fantasia’s Lifetime Achievement Award include Guillermo del Toro, Takashi Miike, Ken Russell, Tobe Hooper, Jean Rollin, Andrzej Zulawski, Mamoru Oshii, John Landis, José Mojica Marins, Larry Cohen, and Ray Harryhausen.

Kyle MacLachlan has some thoughts on that 'Twin Peaks' ending

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Kyle MacLachlan was the only “Twin Peaks” cast member to read all 18 episodes of the series’ celebrated return for a third season before filming began.

But as you’d expect with all things David Lynch, that reading of the 500-page-plus tome came with conditions — and coffee.

“I wasn’t allowed to take it home with me,” MacLachlan said in a video interview at The Times. “I needed to read it there in the studio where they were prepping to shoot. So I sat with a rather large pot of coffee — black, of course — and worked my way through it.”

Naturally, MacLachlan came away with questions. There’s a level of bafflement that comes baked in with any Lynch project, and the convention-defying “Twin Peaks: The Return” was no different. But even those expectations were challenged by the series’ final chapter, which ended with MacLachlan’s Agent Cooper (or more likely, some version of him) attempting to, once and for all, save Laura Palmer, only to find that doing so may be impossible. The past cannot be so easily changed.

“[David] doesn’t feel the least bit compelled to explain what something means — or doesn’t mean,” MacLachlan says. “He really wants the audience to take away their own interpretations.”

“All I know is, I’m at a place and I’m at a loss, and the Cooper character that we all know and remember was, I don’t think, ever at a loss,” MacLachlan continues, talking about the season’s final moments. “And to see that for the first time was very frightening and disheartening and confusing. That’s not what I played, but that’s what I saw when I saw it. [Gasps] Oh. Now we’re in trouble. And you realize even the best man — and we think of Cooper as the best man — maybe he didn’t get there. We don’t know.”

Elsewhere in the conversation, MacLachlan talked about the pleasures and demands of playing the different versions of Cooper — the catatonic Dougie Jones, the evil Mr. C, the heroic Agent Cooper, the Cooper we saw in the series’ last chapter — and whether we might see him don that black suit again. You can watch the entire conversation (sans backwards talking … sorry!) below. Give yourself a present and watch.

Stephen King's ominous "Castle Rock" is Hulu's entry for show of the summer

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The latest trailer for Hulu’s psychological thriller series Castle Rock is a lesson in drawing an audience in: startling, enigmatic imagery (a woman walking barefoot through the snow, a man sticking a revolver in his ear) and ample Easter eggs referencing the beloved works of horror maestro Stephen King (The Shining, The Shawshank Redemption), all tied together by a disquieting voiceover from Emmy-winning actor Terry O’Quinn.

“We’re trapped in a cycle that stretches back centuries,” O’Quinn murmurs. “There’s blood in every backyard, inside every house.”

Set in the creepy (but fictional) Maine town in which many of King’s novels take place, Castle Rock has all the ingredients to make it the next bingeable TV thriller series—including top-notch talent both in front of and behind the camera. Hulu is undoubtedly hoping for a Stranger Things-esque sleeper hit this summer.

Though the Hulu series takes place in the world of King’s novels, and will reference characters, themes, and settings developed by the author, it will feature an entirely original story. Executive producer Sam Shaw has said that Castle Rock will be an anthology, with a new cast and story each season.

Swedish actor Bill Skarsgård, who won acclaim last year for his performance as the clown Pennywise in the film adaptation of King’s novel It, returns to the King cinematic universe in Castle Rock, playing an inmate of Shawshank prison. The Knick‘s Andre Holland plays a lawyer returning home to the cursed Maine hamlet after a long absence. Other cast members include Sissy Spacek (who played the telekinetic high school student in Brian De Palma’s 1974 adaptation of King’s Carrie), Melanie Lynskey (Togetherness), and Scott Glenn as Castle Rock sheriff Alan Pangborn, a character depicted in King’s novel The Dark Half.

The pedigrees of the production team are just as impressive. Directors include Nicole Kassell (The Leftovers), Michael Uppendahl (Mad Men), and Daniel Attias (The Americans, True Detective). Writers include Lila Byock and Tom Spezialy (both alums of The Leftovers) and Shaw and Dustin Thomason (executive producers of the underrated drama Manhattan, who both serve in the same capacity on Castle Rock). The series is also produced by the prolific film- and TV-maker J.J. Abrams, who directed Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

A connection with The Leftovers makes sense, as the show looks to be part of the “unexplained horror afflicts small town” genre. Castle Rock is already drawing comparisons to Twin Peaks as well.

Hot off the success of the second season of The Handmaid’s Tale, Hulu is eager for another big drama to continue its momentum as it competes with Netflix for streaming supremacy. Castle Rock is a good bet to be that show for Hulu—especially as audiences increasingly flock to theaters or their couches to watch well-made thrillers.

Castle Rock debuts on Hulu on July 25.

The Official ‘Hocus Pocus’ Young Adult Sequel Gets New Details; Meet New Characters

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Releasing this summer, Freeform and Disney Book Group’s Hocus Pocus & the All-New Sequel will re-tell the original story AND give us a 25-years-later sequel, and the website Oh My Disney today reveals some new details about the upcoming book.

Specifically, the site introduces us to three new characters joining the fun…

•POPPY DENNISON | An introspective aspiring photographer, seventeen-year-old Poppy isn’t exactly Halloween’s biggest fan. (She hasn’t worn a costume in a decade, for witch’s sake!) And she’s also a skeptic of all things supernatural, including her parents’ (in)famous story about their Halloween night twenty-five years ago, when her dad allegedly resurrected and banished a coven of evil witches (yes, those evil witches). When Poppy musters the courage to share her family’s backstory with her new friend and crush, Isabella Richards, she sets in motion Halloween plans that Salem will never forget.

•TRAVIS REESE | Travis is a math and chemistry whiz, a master of bad puns, and Poppy’s loyal BFF. For a long time, he was the only one who knew about Poppy’s bizarre family history involving the Sanderson sisters. Like Poppy, he doesn’t believe in evil witches or old-timey ghosts . . . until he comes face-to-face with them. As he would say, “I didn’t ex-specter this!”

•ISABELLA RICHARDS | Isabella seems to have the perfect life. She’s the most popular girl at Jacob Bailey High and has an admirable list of extracurriculars—not to mention a killer report card. It’s no wonder Poppy thinks no one holds a candle to her. (See what we did there?) After Isabella befriends Poppy and Travis at the start of the school year, Poppy shares her family’s connection to the Sanderson sisters. Isabella is itching to know more . . . but why?

“Hocus Pocus is beloved by Halloween enthusiasts all over the world. Diving once more into the world of witches, this electrifying two-part young adult novel, released on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1993 film, marks a new era of Hocus Pocus. Fans will be spellbound by a fresh retelling of the original film, followed by the all-new sequel that continues the story with the next generation of Salem teens.

Shortly after moving from California to Salem, Max Dennison finds himself in hot water when he accidentally releases a coven of witches from the afterlife. Max, his sister, and his new friends (human and otherwise) must find a way to stop the witches from carrying out their evil plan and remaining on Earth to torment Salem for all eternity.

Twenty-five years later, Max and Allison’s seventeen-year-old daughter, Poppy, finds herself face-to-face with the Sanderson sisters in all their sinister glory. When Halloween celebrations don’t quite go as planned, it’s a race against time as Poppy and her friends fight to save her family and all of Salem from the witches’ latest death-defying scheme.”

The 304-page book will arrive on July 10, just before the film’s 25th anniversary.

Eerie Indiana Arc Numbers Challenge: A God Damn Force of Nature

[friendof_dorothy]

So this is a (slightly serious) disclaimer. I think Nikki Cox is a beautiful lady. Not everyone shares my opinion. There's lots of very critical people out there writing think pieces about how surgery destroyed her career, or about how she's ugly, or this that and the third. I
don't agree with them and it's not my intention to write anything that may come across as rude or critical. But the fact remains that Nikki has had surgery and what am I, a mere Janet Donner fan, to do? I would describe Dash as short like Jason Marsden, and I would describe Marshall with long hair like Omri Katz. Should I opt out of describing Janet, or should I take the bull by the horns (so to speak) and include it in my writing? Well. Here's a piece specifically about that issue, condensed into a 666 Janet/Dash drabble. Enjoy.

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