Books
21 New Horror Films, TV Shows, Video Games and Books to Help You Get Through April!
Never fear! Even though the entertainment industry is mostly shut down, and many of the horror movies we previewed last month are on indefinite hiatus, the horror genre cannot be destroyed. The month of April is jam-packed with new movies, video games, television shows and other great, scary forms of entertainment to keep all our minds occupied.
The horror streaming service Shudder kicks us off on April 2 with Cursed Films, a brand new documentary series about horror movies whose productions seem… well, cursed. The legendarily disturbing productions and aftermaths of films like Poltergeist, Twilight Zone: The Movie and The Crow are just some of the films that are covered.
Just one day later, on April 3, Hulu debuts the latest installment of their horror movie anthology series, Into the Dark: Pooka Lives! The feature-length presentation is a sequel to Nacho Vigalondo’s 2018 episode Pooka!, and stars Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton as they deal with a creepypasta come to life. Pooka Lives! is from filmmaker Alejandro Brugués, the writer/director of Juan of the Dead.
If that’s not interactive enough for you, April 3 also sees the debut of the Resident Evil 3 remake! The classic horror video game has been updated for modern consoles, and will be available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
Don’t have time for a video game, a movie, or even a TV show? The new streaming service Quibi debuts this month and Murder House Flip is one of the first shows available. The reality series focuses on people fixing up houses where, you guessed it, the previous tenants have been killed, combining elements of fixer-upper DIY reality television and true crime. Murder House Flip debuts April 6, just two days before the return of Ghost Hunters on A&E, if that’s not enough horror-centric reality TV for you.
Back in the realm of frightening films, April 10 brings with it two promising horror premieres. Sea Fever is an aquatic sci-fi thriller from writer/director Neasa Hardiman, in which Connie Nielsen, Dougray Scott and Hermione Corfield are not only marooned, but afflicted with a parasite in their water supply. Marc Meyers’ new horror comedy We Summon the Darkness stars Alexandra Daddario and Logan Miller as heavy metal music fans whose post-show after party goes horribly wrong. Sea Fever debuts and We Summon the Darkness debut on Digital and VOD.
If you’re a video game fan AND you like movies, then “get over here!” on April 12, and check out the new film Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge on Digital. The first R-rated movie based on the Mortal Kombat video game franchise reportedly tells the story of the fateful fighting tournament from Scorpion’s perspective. Voice talent for the film includes Joel McHale and Jennifer Carpenter. If you would prefer to wait for physical media, since lots of folks are dealing with internet outages nowadays, Scorpion’s Revenge debuts on Blu-ray/DVD on April 28.
More horror from Quibi awaits you on April 13 with the debut of 50 States of Fright, a new anthology series that brings The Evil Dead director Sam Raimi back behind the camera. The series will explore stories based on urban legends from Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Oregon and Washington, taking viewers deeper into the horrors that lurk just beneath the surface of our country. Then, on April 14, gamers can check out the new psychological horror game Someday You’ll Return, from the makers of J.U.L.I.A. Among the Stars, about a man searching for his daughter in the mysterious woods from his past.
And if you STILL don’t know what we do in the shadows, then be sure to check out the second season premiere of What We Do in the Shadows on FX on April 15.
Two new streaming films debut on April 23, including 0.0MHz on Shudder. The film co-stars Eun-ji Jung from the K-pop group Apink, and follows a group of young amateur paranormal investigators who try to prove the existence of the supernatural using radio technology. Over on Netflix, April 23 brings with it The Plagues of Breslau, a Polish thriller about a serial killer who murders someone every day at 6pm.
April 24 is a BIG day for horror fans! The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs returns to Shudder, with more horror movie watch along presentations galore, but that’s not all. The horror-thriller 1BR debuts on Digital and VOD that same day, and weaves a paranoid story about a Hollywood apartment complex.
And if you’re a gamer, get ready, because April 24 brings with it the anticipated new multiplayer game Predator: Hunting Grounds on PS4 and PC, as well as the outer space thriller Deliver Us the Moon, about an astronaut tasked with saving the human race!
But wait, there’s more! April 26 brings the debut of the new Showtime series Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, a spin-off of the hit horror series Penny Dreadful. The new show takes place 40 years after the original show, in Los Angeles in the 1930s, where the supernatural intertwines with the Golden Age of Hollywood. Natalie Dormer, Daniel Zovatto, Kerry Bishé, Rory Kinnear and Nathan Lane co-star.
What’s with all these TV shows, movies and video games! Why don’t you crack open a book for a change? Stephen King’s new anthology If It Bleeds arrives on April 28, and it’s a collection of scary novellas called Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, The Life of Chuck, Rat and the title tale, If it Bleeds!
April 30 may be the last day of the month, but that doesn’t mean horror is taking a day off. Shudder debuts the second season of Wolf Creek on April 30, and the horror-thriller Dangerous Lies (a.k.a. Windfall) debuts on Netflix, telling a scary story about murder and mysterious inheritance. Jamie Chung co-stars with Cam Gigandet and Elliott Gould.
- April 2nd: Shudder’s “Cursed Films”
- April 3rd: Hulu’s Into the Dark: Pooka Lives!
- April 3rd: Resident Evil 3 Remake
- April 6th: Quibi’s “Murder House Flip”
- April 8th: “Ghost Hunters” Season Premiere, A&E
- April 10th: Sea Fever, VOD
- April 10th: We Summon the Darkness, VOD
- April 12th: Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge, VOD
- April 13th: Quibi’s “50 States of Fright”
- April 14th: Someday You’ll Return (Video Game)
- April 15th: “What We Do in the Shadows” Season 2 Premiere, FX
- April 23rd: Shudder’s 0.0Mhz
- April 23rd: Netflix’s The Plagues of Breslau
- April 24th: Shudder’s “The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs”
- April 24th: 1BR, VOD
- April 24th: Predator: Hunting Grounds (Video Game)
- April 24th: Deliver Us the Moon (Video Game)
- April 26th: Showtime’s “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels”
- April 28th: Stephen King’s If It Bleeds (Book)
- April 30th: Season 2 of “Wolf Creek,” Shudder
- April 30th: Netflix’s Dangerous Lies
Stay safe, and stay scared – in the good way – with all the horror you can handle in April!
Books
‘Halloween: Illustrated’ Review: Original Novelization of John Carpenter’s Classic Gets an Upgrade
Film novelizations have existed for over 100 years, dating back to the silent era, but they peaked in popularity in the ’70s and ’80s, following the advent of the modern blockbuster but prior to the rise of home video. Despite many beloved properties receiving novelizations upon release, a perceived lack of interest have left a majority of them out of print for decades, with desirable titles attracting three figures on the secondary market.
Once such highly sought-after novelization is that of Halloween by Richard Curtis (under the pen name Curtis Richards), based on the screenplay by John Carpenter and Debra Hill. Originally published in 1979 by Bantam Books, the mass market paperback was reissued in the early ’80s but has been out of print for over 40 years.
But even in book form, you can’t kill the boogeyman. While a simple reprint would have satisfied the fanbase, boutique publisher Printed in Blood has gone above and beyond by turning the Halloween novelization into a coffee table book. Curtis’ unabridged original text is accompanied by nearly 100 new pieces of artwork by Orlando Arocena to create Halloween: Illustrated.
One of the reasons that The Shape is so scary is because he is, as Dr. Loomis eloquently puts it, “purely and simply evil.” Like the film sequels that would follow, the novelization attempts to give reason to the malevolence. More ambiguous than his sister or a cult, Curtis’ prologue ties Michael’s preternatural abilities to an ancient Celtic curse.
Jumping to 1963, the first few chapters delve into Michael’s childhood. Curtis hints at a familial history of evil by introducing a dogmatic grandmother, a concerned mother, and a 6-year-old boy plagued by violent nightmares and voices. The author also provides glimpses at Michael’s trial and his time at Smith’s Grove Sanitarium, which not only strengthens Loomis’ motivation for keeping him institutionalized but also provides a more concrete theory on how Michael learned to drive.
Aside from a handful of minor discrepancies, including Laurie stabbing Michael in his manhood, the rest of the book essentially follows the film’s depiction of that fateful Halloween night in 1978 beat for beat. Some of the writing is dated — like a smutty fixation on every female character’s breasts and a casual use of the R-word — but it otherwise possesses a timelessness similar to its film counterpart. The written version benefits from expanded detail and enriched characters.
The addition of Arocena’s stunning illustrations, some of which are integrated into the text, creates a unique reading experience. The artwork has a painterly quality to it but is made digitally using vectors. He faithfully reproduces many of Halloween‘s most memorable moments, down to actor likeness, but his more expressionistic pieces are particularly striking.
The 224-page hardcover tome also includes an introduction by Curtis — who details the challenges of translating a script into a novel and explains the reasoning behind his decisions to occasionally subvert the source material — and a brief afterword from Arocena.
Novelizations allow readers to revisit worlds they love from a different perspective. It’s impossible to divorce Halloween from the film’s iconography — Carpenter’s atmospheric direction and score, Dean Cundey’s anamorphic cinematography, Michael’s expressionless mask, Jamie Lee Curtis’ star-making performance — but Halloween: Illustrated paints a vivid picture in the mind’s eye through Curtis’ writing and Arocena’s artwork.
Halloween: Illustrated is available now.
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