Night of the Living Dead: The Official Story of the Film book is a 192 page look at the creation of the George A. Romero classic

Back in 1968, George A. Romero brought the world the horror classic Night of the Living Dead, the film that changed the definition of what “zombies” could be without even calling its ghouls zombies! This September, author Simon Braund is teaming up with Titan Books to bring us a 192 page book on the making of that masterpiece, Night of the Living Dead: The Official Story of the Film. To be exact, the book will be reaching store shelves on September 30th.

Directed by Romero from a screenplay he wrote with John A. Russo, Night of the Living Dead has the following synopsis: A disparate group of individuals takes refuge in an abandoned house when corpses begin to leave the graveyard in search of fresh human bodies to devour. The pragmatic Ben does his best to control the situation, but when the reanimated bodies surround the house, the other survivors begin to panic. As any semblance of order within the group begins to dissipate, the zombies start to find ways inside — and one by one, the living humans become the prey of the deceased ones. The film stars Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea, Marilyn Eastman, Karl Hardman, Judith Ridley, Keith Wayne, Kyra Schon, Bill Hinzman, George Kosana, Russell Streiner, and Bill “Chilly Billy” Cardille.

Night of the Living Dead: The Official Story of the Film has the following description: Released in 1968, George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead revolutionized horror, redefining the zombie subgenre and influencing filmmakers for generations. This official retrospective tells the full story of how the film was made by a small group of people at the outset of their film-making careers. Interviews with cast and production company members explore the genesis of the movie, from persuading friends and family to become investors, finding the perfect run-down farmhouse in rural western Pennsylvania for the central location, assembling a cast of extras to portray “flesh-eating ghouls”, including the ground-breaking casting of a black actor in a leading role—Duane Jones as Ben—to the rough-and-tumble guerilla-style shoot. The book explores how Night of the Living Dead went from controversial to iconic over the years, gaining critical acclaim and a hardcore cult following. And how zombies—as envisioned by Romero and his co-creators—now permeate everything from video games to literature, all tracing back to the unparalleled original. Illustrated with movie stills, memorabilia, and unpublished on-set photos never previously seen, and including analysis of the original shooting script annotated by George A. Romero, this book is a must-have for horror fans.

The original Night of the Living Dead is the movie I have watched more than any other, my default choice to put on when I just want to sit back and relax, and I’m always happy to see it continue to be referenced and celebrated. Night of the Living Dead: The Official Story of the Film sounds like a great, “must own” addition to this horror fan’s collection.

Will you be reading Night of the Living Dead: The Official Story of the Film? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Matthew McConaughey delivers one of his best performances in Andrew Patterson’s superb southern yarn, The Rivals of Amziah King.

PLOT: Following the death of her mother, Kateri (Angelina LookingGlass) reunites with her beloved former foster father, Amziah King (Matthew McConaughey), a honey-maker working in the backwoods of rural Oklahoma.

REVIEW: It’s hard to believe, but it’s been six whole years since Matthew McConaughey has appeared in a film (The Gentlemen). Sure, he’s done some voice work and commercials, but walking into The Rivals of Amziah King, I didn’t realize just how much I missed him until the movie’s bravura opening sequence. In this expertly directed introduction to what’s undoubtedly the best film I saw at SXSW this year, McConaughey’s Amziah pulls up to an outdoor eatery where he meets some friends and jams with them, playing homegrown roots rock, with all of them singing and playing with the type of joy that can’t help but wash over the audience.

It’s a great way of introducing Amziah, who’s shown in the film to be the beloved backbone of his community, making friends wherever he goes and putting as much good into the world as he can. It’s a role tailor-made for McConaughey, with his good ol’ boy charm infectious. Director Andrew Patterson, whose previous film, The Vast of Night, was underrated, directs with such verve and style that this will likely get a major release and turn into a new favourite for many, with the premiere absolutely bringing the house down here at SXSW.

Yet, as much as the movie benefits from McConaughey’s star-power, it doesn’t necessarily rely on it either. As the movie goes on, the actual lead is revealed in Angelina LookingGlass’s Kateri. The relationship with Amziah is touching, with her having happily lived with him and his wife as a foster child before being taken away by the state after his wife died, with them deeming a single father unfit to care for a child. Now that she’s back in his life as a young, capable adult, Amziah wastes no time training her to take over his honey business, which turns out to be a lot more cutthroat than you’d expect.

The movie also does a great job depicting the sense of community, with the rural Oklahoma setting a joyous collection of people living their lives the best they can. They immediately welcome Kateri into her ranks, with her quickly growing attached to the rogue’s gallery of misfits who work for Amziah. There’s Scott Shepard and Jake Horowitz as Amziah’s ex-con pals, who Kateri finds to be surprisingly reliable in a pinch, as well as Rob Morgan as his best friend, the town’s lawyer, who provides all involved free legal advice, and is a central part of Amziah’s band. Tony Revolori has one of the movie’s most memorable sequences early on, where, in a shockingly bloody moment, we learn why ponytails and honey-making machines don’t mix. The great Kurt Russell also enters the fray later on as the film’s villain, an affable local businessman whose methods contradict Amziah’s community-first principle and desire to help all those around him.

In its second hour, the film gets surprisingly dark, with LookingGlass’s Kateri revealed to have a harder edge to her than initially thought, with her angelic smile camouflaging the fact that, as someone who knows firsthand how brutal the world is, she isn’t afraid to fight dirty.

All of this helps make The Rivals of Amziah King one of the most unpredictable and wildly entertaining films I’ve seen in a while. Hopefully, someone snatches it up, as it’s a great piece of work and should rank among McConaughey’s best-ever roles. 

District 9’s Neill Blomkamp is set to write and direct a new Starship Troopers movie based on the original novel by Robert A. Heinlein.

THR reports that Neill Blomkamp will write and direct a new Starship Troopers movie for Columbia Pictures. The report states that this won’t be a remake of Paul Verhoeven’s sci-fi classic, but will follow the original novel by Robert A. Heinlein, which was published in 1959.

The novel follows Juan “Johnny” Rico as he joins the Federal Service and goes through the toughest boot camp in the universe as an interstellar war between Earth and an alien species known as Arachnids rages on. Although the novel was very successful, even winning the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1960, some have criticized it for its militaristic and fascist elements. Verhoeven took the concept to the extreme for his movie, presenting a satire of authoritarian governance.

Blomkamp will also produce the new Starship Troopers movie alongside his wife and partner, Terri Tatchell, who co-wrote District 9 and Chappie.

This project will mark Blomkamp’s return to sci-fi after his last two projects, a direct sequel to Aliens and a follow-up to Robocop, fell apart. His long-awaited District 9 sequel is still in the works, although the director didn’t exactly sound enthused about the project the last time he spoke about it. “I don’t know if I even want to make that right now,” Blomkamp said in 2023, “but at some point down the line, it’ll probably get made.“

Blomkamp most recently directed Gran Turismo. The film was based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, a teenage Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won a series of Nissan competitions to become an actual professional racecar driver. The film grossed $122 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews, including one from JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray. “Blomkamp also does a good job walking a fine line between depicting the racing action in a realistic, immersive way while staying true to the style of the gameplay,” Bumbray wrote. “While this lacks the hardcore tone of Blomkamp’s sci-fi films, it’s a good stab at mainstream studio filming from the director, and he’s done an excellent job making a family crowd-pleaser.” You can check out the full review right here.

What do you think of Neill Blomkamp directing a new Starship Troopers movie?

Kelsey Asbille, Emma Roberts, and more have been cast in the psychological thriller The Technique, from the creator of Hemlock Grove

Brian McGreevy is the author who wrote the novel Hemlock Grove, then worked with Lee Shipman and Eli Roth to develop the concept into a television series that ran on the Netflix streaming service for three seasons and a total of 33 episodes. McGreevy went on to co-create the Western TV series The Son, which ran on AMC for two seasons, a total of 20 episodes. Now, Deadline reports that McGreevy is set to make his feature directorial debut with a psychological thriller called The Technique – and he has assembled a solid cast to bring the story’s characters to life. That cast includes Kelsey Asbille (Yellowstone), Emma Roberts (American Horror Story), Nicholas Alexander Chavez (Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story), Ben Platt (Theater Camp), Laura Harrier (Spider-Man: Homecoming), and Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).

McGreevy has also written the screenplay for the film, but Deadline wasn’t able to dig up any information on the plot. As they said, the details are being kept under wraps.

Miles Skinner of Hypothesis and Andrea Bucko of Raised By Wolves are producing The Technique with Jordan Drake, David Duque-Estrada, Chadd Harbold, and Russ Posternak. Zak Williams of Hypothesis, Jordan Claire Robbins, and Nini Le Huynh of Raised By Wolves serve as executive producers alongside John Kalafatis, Joanna Kalafatis, and Daniel Cypress of York Films, as well as Chris K. Daniels of Cinelaunch and Emanuele Morretti. Pete McClellan is serving as a co-producer. Raised By Wolves is providing the financing for the film.

Honestly, I have never read a McGreevy novel, nor have I watched Hemlock Grove or The Son, but I’m already interested in this film due to the cast. I’m totally on board to watch a psychological thriller that stars Kelsey Asbille , Emma Roberts, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Ben Platt, Laura Harrier, and Noomi Rapace. I don’t even need to know what’s causing the psychological thrills at this point, but I am looking forward to learning more about the story.

Does The Technique sound interesting to you? Share your thoughts on this project and the cast Brian McGreevy has assembled for it by leaving a comment below.

The leak of concept art from Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars has been debunked by the Russo brothers.

Marvel fans got an unexpected peek into Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars last week when concept art for the highly anticipated movies was leaked. The concept art was posted (and quickly removed) by Marvel artist Mushk Rizvi, but the damage was done, and fans dissected every image. However, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars directors Joe and Anthony Russo have denied that the concept art is from their movies.

While speaking with THR, the Russo brothers were asked if fans should be worried about the concept art spoiling the movies. “No,” said Joe, “because that artwork was not from Avengers: Doomsday or Secret Wars.” Anthony chimed in, “Nothing spoiling in there. That’s not our concept art.“

Despite the denial, fans aren’t completely buying it, as Disney put out many copyright hits on accounts sharing the art (although it’s still easy to find). It’s also possible that the concept art was done very early in preproduction, well before the Russo brothers were involved in the films. So, they would still be correct in saying this is not “our” concept art.

Production on Doomsday and Secret Wars will kick off soon, and the Russo brothers recently said they wanted to outdo Infinity War and Endgame. “Absolutely, we want to beat those younger versions of ourselves,” Joe said. “We have to be, right? Because we have to outdo those movies in a way, or we at least have to take you on an equally engaging journey.” Anthony added, “These movies are an incredible opportunity for us, and they’re an incredible opportunity for audiences. So we’re doing what we can to deliver the experience everyone, I think, hopes for.“

Infinity War and Endgame still rank as the highest-grossing films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but a lot has changed in the last six years, both in the world and in the MCU itself. However, the Russo brothers aren’t letting themselves get worried about things they can’t control. “We can’t control the economic environment. We can’t control what’s happening in the world around the time of the release,” Joe said. “We can’t control the audience’s desire to leave their homes or not. All we can do is make the best movie possible in the hope that it excites them.” Avengers: Doomsday is slated for a May 1, 2026 release, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7, 2027.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians has been renewed for season 3 at Disney+, with the premiere of the second season still many months away.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians has been renewed for season 3 at Disney+. This is quite the early renewal, as the second season isn’t slated to be released until December. The third season will focus on The Titan’s Curse, the third novel in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series.

“We’re so grateful to be continuing the story of Percy Jackson on Disney+,” Riordan said in a statement. “This third season will be new territory for the screen, bringing fan favorites like the Hunters of Artemis and Nico di Angelo to life for the first time. It’s a huge sign of commitment from Disney, and speaks volumes about the enthusiasm with which the fandom has embraced the TV show. Thank you, demigods worldwide!“

Ayo Davis, president of Disney Branded Television, added, “From the moment ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ debuted, it was clear this series had struck a chord with fans of all ages. With season two set to premiere this December, we’re thrilled to announce that Percy’s journey will continue with a third season. Huge thanks to our incredible cast and creative team, our partners at 20th Television, and our visionary and talented producers who continue to bring Rick Riordan’s world to life with such depth and imagination.“

The early renewal will allow production on the new season to proceed as quickly as possible, which is advantageous as the young stars — Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadri — could wind up being much older than their characters if there was a sizable gap between seasons.

There will be one big change when Percy Jackson and the Olympians returns for its second season later this year. The first season featured the late Lance Reddick as Zeus. It was announced last year that Courtney B. Vance would be stepping in to replace him. “I can’t tell you how excited I am to join the extraordinary cast of Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” Vance said. “There are few moments in an actor’s career when you can honestly say that you’re about to board a series that has such a devoted fan base filled with characters beloved around the world and is based on a wildly successful book series. I know that stepping into this role of Zeus will be a memorable experience and I’ll be giving my brother, Lance Reddick, who left us way too soon, a heavenly hug.“

Eli Roth wants to give fans the chance to own a piece of the next big horror franchise with his new media company, The Horror Section.

Last Updated on March 17, 2025

How many hundreds of millions (if not billions) of dollars have characters like Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, and Ghostface made for studios through movies, TV, and merchandise over the years? Could you imagine owning just a bit of that? Per THR, Eli Roth wants to give fans the chance to own a piece of a potential new horror empire.

Roth has launched The Horror Section, a new media company that plans to produce all things horror, including movies, TV shows, games, podcasts, and more. What’s exciting about this is that up to a 10 percent stake in the company will be available for fans. They’ll be able to share in potential profits and ownership of horror characters and franchises. They’ll also enjoy first looks at upcoming projects and other perks, such as being “killed” on camera in one of the movies. Together with Media Capital Technologies, The Horror Section has partnered with investing platform Republic to give accredited and non-accredited investors worldwide the chance to get involved. It will all launch on March 21st.

“I’ve done this very successfully and everything that I’ve done for this zone has made a lot of money for a lot of people,” Roth told THR. “Now it’s time to put it all under one umbrella, build a label, but really do that go-for-the-throat horror that I love, that the fans love from me.“

Roth used Thanksgiving as an example of the type of movie that The Horror Section would produce but added that it would be “the tamest type of movie that I would do for this new company” and that “everything else is going to go further than that.“

The massive success of the Terrifier franchise (particularly the third movie) showed Roth that you don’t need to go through the studio system to get a mainstream release for truly unrated horror. “What Terrifier 3 showed me is that the unrated horror is truly mainstream theatrical in a way that it hasn’t been before,” Roth explained. “I had arguments on certain movies – that’s too much, you should cut that, audiences won’t accept that. Terrifier threw all that out the window.” The Horror Section has partnered with Iconic Events, the theatrical distribution company behind Terrifier 3, to ensure its films get a proper release.

The potential is rather thrilling. Horror fans are among the most passionate of any fandom, so get a bunch of them financially involved, and you’ve got an invested (literally) army ready to market your project. Could The Horror Section give us the next Leatherface or Art the Clown? Time will tell, but I wish them the best of luck!

The supposed final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm wrapped less than a year ago but already Larry David may have some ideas for a 13th.

Going into the 12th season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, we all knew it was the end. Gone would be the pants tents, the car pool lanes, the Palestinian chicken, and Larry David would live out the rest of his days beating up Elmo. But even less than one year after the show concluded, word is coming that Larry David may have some ideas for a 13th season.

Speaking with Deadline, Amy Gravitt – who serves as Head of Comedy at HBO – said she is game for more Curb Your Enthusiasm and that things could be headed that way. “[Larry David and I have] been chatting. It seems like he’s got some ideas for me.” That’s just vague enough to pique our curiosity, although considering the breaks between the majority of the seasons, we wouldn’t expect anything firm for quite some time. (Curb has had a number of seasons premiere in consecutive years, but two- and three-year breaks wasn’t uncommon; and who can forget the excruciating six-year wait between seasons eight and nine?)

If Larry David – who is 77 now – does in fact try to get a season 13 of Curb Your Enthusiasm off the ground, it would be a bit of a surprise considering how final the 12th season was set up to be. Even the poster had the tagline, “The last of his kind,” while the final episode was appropriately titled “No Lessons Learned.” That finale, too, mirrored that of Seinfeld structurally and thematically, further ending on a scene that offered just the sort of “finality” that fit the show. Of course, if it did come back, it would sorely be missing the late Richard Lewis, who passed away while season 12 was airing in February 2024.

Larry David hasn’t exactly been off the radar since Curb Your Enthusiasm bowed last April, even hitting the road for a 10-date tour. But maybe the TV life is for him – hey, at least he’s not working on a sequel to Sour Grapes…

What do you think? Should Curb Your Enthusiasm come back for a 13th season or did it end on the right note?

Our weekly column features artwork from fans and pros alike. This week highlights interpretations of Marvel characters far and wide!

Some cliche somewhere said that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ This has proven to be the case for me and especially when it comes to fan art. I have always sought out great fan art and have wanted to share it with as many people as possible. “Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net” is the outlet for that passion. In this column, I will showcase the kick-ass artwork of some great artists, with the hopes that these artists get the attention they deserve. That’s the aim. If you have any questions or comments, or even suggestions of art or other great artists, feel free to contact me at any time at [email protected].

The Avengers by Matt Taylor

Black Panther by Jan Crisologo

Captain Marvel by Roxy Color

Daredevil: Born Again by Kevin Tiernan

Galactus and The Silver Surfer by Andrew Ross MacLean

The Hulk by Chamba

Moon Knight by Samer Alkaabi

Spider-Man by Edward Batkins

Thanos by Gustavo S.Santos

The X-Men by Dusty Abell

What first seems like body horror involving ants, evolves into psychological horror diving deep into a disturbing family history.

PLOT: A motivational speaker is tormented by an unrelenting itch on the back of her head.

REVIEW: Body horror is all the rage right now and thankfully, with so many films being released every year, some are able to capitalize on the trend. I’ve been of several of the Hulu Horror ventures like The Mill and Mr. Crocket, so I’m excited to see another release from them. And the fact that it’s body horror is all the more intriguing. Because there are always plenty of different avenues to take a film that relies on making your skin crawl. Control Freak combines the metaphorical with a real life monster to give us a very unique experience.

Control Freak follows motivational speaker Val, as she finds herself being tormented by an itch on her head that won’t go away. With a complicated family history, she has to look into her past in order to solve the problem. Her husband, Robbie, really wants a kid, but she’s not willing to commit to that decision yet. Like many self help professionals, Val spouts all of this stuff about finding her true self. In doing so, she tries to avoid her own family history, thus avoiding her true self. It gives her an interesting obstacle to overcome but it all feels so self-inflicted. But this is really a performance movie.

There’s something about Kelly Marie Tran’s performance that feels a bit uneven at first. I really liked her more thoughtful and investigative side but her motivational speaking lacks in truth. She sounds a bit awkward and robotic in those instances. If it was a choice, it didn’t work for me and clashes with her believability. Thankfully, that’s really just the beginning and she settles nicely into the role. She’s great when it’s all about her descent into madness. I’ve been a fan of Miles Robbins since Halloween (2018) and Daniel Isn’t Real so it’s nice to see him pop up here. He’s often cast a supportive partner, as is the case here, and he pairs well with Tran.

We rarely see ants get such a prominent placement in horror. It’s often spiders that get to have all the fun but Control Freak proves that ants are just as deserving of a spot in the creepy crawly cinema hall of fame. We get plenty of glimpses of the insects throughout, and they’re sure to get your skin crawling. But, despite what the poster may make you think, they’re really just a conduit for something else. The FX work ranges from hokey to quite impressive. I wasn’t a fan when the monster was in its more “ant-like” state as it looked a bit corny. But I liked it once it started to just be this long-limbed, dark creature. I won’t deny its weirdness, but it worked for me.

They hit multiple horror tropes like the “wake up from a dream multiple times” schtick, which feels so damn tired by this point. But it never gets too out of hand with checking boxes. If anything, I was impressed with how writer/director Shal Ngo pulled off the climax. Even if it was a bit choreographed, that didn’t diminish the overall impact of the message. Every time I thought the film may just be going too far in one direction, it reels itself in. Though, speaking of reels, there’s this crazy device that reels a person’s arms in and locks them in place as they sleep. I’m hoping that this isn’t a real device as even the idea of it gave me anxiety.

Control Freak doesn’t break any new ground narratively, but it showcases wonderful performances from its burgeoning cast and boasts some fantastic visuals. I like a dose of weird with my body horror and while it doesn’t go too crazy, it does go far enough that I’m sure it’ll lose some more pedestrian viewers. While it has some missteps, I liked the journey of Control Freak. What seems like a story about internal struggle erupts into a monster movie with some truly unsettling moments.

CONTROL FREAK RELEASES TO HULU ON MARCH 14TH, 2025.

Control Freak Review: Body Horror that goes an unexpected route

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