News
Two Female Directors Come Aboard “The X-Files”
FOX’s revival of “The X-Files” has made headlines a handful of times due to its unfortunate gender inequality issues. First, we learned that Gillian Anderson was initially offered half of what David Duchovny was being paid to return, and more recently, the show came under fire for announcing an all-male writers room.
Thankfully, the pay issue was sorted out. As for the issue of the all-male creative team, which Anderson herself was unhappy about, that too has been addressed.
TV Line reports today that female filmmakers Carol Banker (“The Lone Gunmen”) and Holly Dale (“Grimm”) will both direct Season 11 episodes of “The X-Files.” They’ll be the third and fourth women in history to direct episodes of the series, behind Michelle MacLaren and Gillian Anderson.
Additionally, episodes will be written by Karen Nielson and Kristen Cloke & Shannon Hamblin.
Season 11 will feature 10 brand new episodes.
On the writing staff, Chris Carter once again reunites with former producers Glen Morgan, Darin Morgan and James Wong. The quartet will be joined by relative newcomers Gabe Rotter (a writers assistant on Season 9), Benjamin Van Allen (a writers assistant on Season 10) and Brad Follmer (Carter’s personal assistant during Season 8 and 9).
Production on Season 11 begins later this summer ahead of an early 2018 launch.
Movies
McDonald’s No-Clips Out of Reality with Unexpected ‘Backrooms’ Short Movie
The best part about engaging with collaborative genre fiction on the internet is that anyone can get in on the action, with worldwide accessibility often resulting in absurd story beats that wouldn’t be possible if any single person was responsible for the entire narrative. And while Kane Parsons’ Backrooms film is definitely the young filmmaker’s own unique take on the infamous creepypasta, it’s fun to see other creators join the Backrooms sandbox now that the big screen adaptation is getting ready for a record-shattering opening weekend.
As if cleverly timed releases like Puppet Combo’s The Backrooms game weren’t enough (not to mention that Scary Movie poster poking fun at Parsons’ flick), McDonald’s official social media accounts have now released an analog horror video of their own celebrating the liminal terrors of the McRooms – complete with a familiar purple surprise at the end of the footage.
While it’s funny enough to see the world’s most recognizable Fast Food giant engage with internet-borne Found Footage thrills seemingly out of the blue, the video is actually referencing a long-running gag among the Backrooms fandom where creators jokingly talk about there being a fully functional McDonald’s restaurant hidden somewhere in level 0 of the infamous liminal labyrinth.
Now, would it be too much to hope for a moist-carpet-flavored McShake to tie in with the film?
Backrooms is now playing only in theaters from A24.

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