Pigeon Shrine FrightFest Announce Short Film Showcases

One of the hugely popular draws for any film festival is the short film selection. This year’s Pigeon Shrine FrightFest selection is set to be just that. Taking place at the Odeon Luxe West End, the three short film showcases will contain entries from all of the world and will have something for everyone.

This year there are six pre-feature shorts in the Main and Discovery Screens, including the UK Premiere of Bella Thorne’s directorial debut Unsettled, based on a true queer revenge saga. Other pre-feature shorts in the Discovery screens are the UK Premiere of Brea Grant’s murderous millennial drama MLM, with Barbara Crampton, the World Premiere of Thom Newell’s vampiristic Full Moon Glory Hole, the UK Premiere of Zach Parker’s coffee and carnage-filled Barista, the World Premiere of Adam Mason’s Hotline, a chilling homage to the classic ‘70s horror When A Stranger Calls and the UK Premiere of Jackson Stewart’s Stereo-Vision, produced by Tyler MacIntyre.

This year’s three showcase line-ups features a range of International Premieres, including the World Premiere of Open Your Eyes, directed by Samantha Scaffidi, who portrays Victoria Heyes’ in the Terrifier films. Other US highlights are Colin Minihan’s surreal VFX-inspired Trip, animation horror VHX, eye-popping horror rom-com HIDE YOUR CRAZY, the twisted, giallo-inspired Bath Bomb, the atmospheric Shadow from Lebanese American filmmaker Kamell Allaway and Sketch, a creepy, Babadookian romp.

From Germany comes manipulative love story Forever Yours, from France we have the immersive, visually stunning The Cost Of Flesh and Game Over, where words can definitely kill. Finally, from Denmark is FOMO/Armageddon, where family illness and neglect lead to a moving, apocalyptic conclusion.

The UK is represented with twenty-two entries, including the World Premiere of The Awakening, starring Line of Duty actor Daniel Mays. Three returning directors this year are David Yorke, with the World Premiere of Safe, Tony Hipwell, with the World Premiere of Body Worn Video, and John Ferrer, with two entries this year – The Milk Situation and 1 Star Review.

Other highlights are Breakfast, the scariest meal of the day, Deliverance, where fast food can be your salvation, Off Cuts, where fear will eat you, and loneliness kills in Dead Of Night. Then there’s the horror of DIY dentistry in The Vampire Theory, folk horror mockumentary End of Days, stalker chiller Yellowmeads, the sexually charged Skewered, and the wrong late-night spirits are served in Nyctophobia.

Other terror tales include Cakes! where one slice is never enough, the malevolent Unravelling, the delirious, dialogue-free Clubhammer, the poetically subversive The Wedding Veil Of The Proud Princess, surreal fantasy Punch, demonic love-story It’s Really You, the unnerving Road Ahead Closed. And, finally, be careful what you fish for in What A Catch.

1 Star Review
Clubhammer
Hide Your Crazy
The Vampire Theory
The Awakening

Here’s the schedule so you can plan ahead!

SUNDAY 25 AUG: MAIN SCREEN – Unsettled (UK Premiere)

Playing before Saint Clare, 6.15pm

Director: Bella Thorne, Cast: Chris Zylka, Chris Santos, Bella Thorne. USA. 2024. 15min.

A young man is drugged and abducted from a gay club, escapes and seeks to bring his tormentors to justice in a deeply conservative Bible Belt Oklahoma

MONDAY 26 AUG: DISCOVERY SCREEN 1 – MLM (UK Premiere)

Playing before Agatha, 4.00pm

Director: Brea Grant. Cast: Jessika Van, Courtney Pauroso, Barbara Crampton. USA 2024. 18 mins.

When Sarah joins a multi-level marketing company called La La Leggings, she isn’t ready for the horrific consequences of not selling.

FRIDAY 23 AUG: DISCOVERY SCREEN 2 – Full Moon Glory Hole (World Premiere) Playing before Drive Back, 1.10pm

Director: Thom Newel. Cast: Courtney Bandeko, Sam Huntington. USA 2024. 5 mins.

When Francis is beckoned to a glory hole in a dank gas station bathroom, he gets more than he bargained for. Perhaps he should have realized it was a Full Moon!

SUNDAY 25 AUG: DISCOVERY SCREEN 2 – Hotline (World Premiere)

Playing before Razor Blade Smile, 9.15pm

Director: Adam Mason. Cast: Paris Berelc, Bourke Floyd. US 2024. 8 mins.

A young woman (Paris Berelc) is manning the night shift at a mental health crisis call centre when she starts to get harassed in increasingly terrifying ways by one of her callers. ‘HOTLINE’ is a chilling homage to the classic 70’s horror ‘WHEN A STRANGER CALLS’ by FrightFest alumni Adam Mason and Simon Boyes.

MONDAY 26 AUG: DISCOVERY SCREEN 2: Barista (World Premiere)

Playing before Generation Terror, 3.15pm

Director: Zach Parker. Cast: Lizzy Walther, Katelyn Goodpaster. USA. 2024 5 mins.

Photographed on glorious 16mm film, BARISTA is a love letter to 70’s Exploitation, Giallo Elegance, Revenge, Torture, Gore…& Coffee.

DISCOVERY SCREEN 3: Stereo-Vision (World Premiere)

Playing before From Darkness (Saturday, 12.55pm and Sunday, 6.40pm)

Director: Jackson Stewart. Cast: Jocelin Donahue, Jill Schoelen, Matt Betinelli-Olpin, Chad Villella. USA 2024. 12mins.

After her abusive Mom suffers a debilitating stroke, Alexis Barrows finds a mysterious childhood toy that offers a euphoric escape with a hefty price. From Beyond The Gates writer/director Jackson Stewart and produced by Tyler MacIntyre.

FRIDAY 23 AUGUST – SHORT FILM SHOWCASE 1

ODEON LUXE WEST END SCREEN 2 from 15:45

Forever Yours (UK Premiere)

Director: Elliott Louis McKee.  Cast: Andrea Ariel, James Tuft, Simone Bucio. GERMANY 2024.  15 min.

Following a devastating accident that leaves the love of her life, Sebastian, paralysed, Valeria becomes his dedicated caretaker, triggering a disturbing obsession.

VHX (World Premiere)

Directors: Alisa Stern, Scott Ampleford.  Cast: Erin Natal, Scott Ampleford, Henry Thompson. US 2024.  5 min.

A collection of home movies languish on a shelf, longing to be watched again. Little do they know, there’s a fate far worse than being forgotten.

The Cost of Flesh (UK Premiere)

Director:  Tomas Palombi.  Cast: Nayla Berrada, Camille Monchy, Baptiste Philippe.  FRANCE 2023.  10 min.

Alice is a totally paralysed teenager who can only communicate through the movements of her eyes. Her brother and sister try an obscure method to free her from the evil that hinders her…

Game Over (UK Premiere)

Director: Adrian Cacciola.  Cast: Jean-Yves Lissonet, Lynne Verall, Adrian Rawlins (voice). FRANCE 2023. 9 min.

Sunday afternoon is Scrabble Day for an elderly couple. The sunny scene opens with the old man’s hateful inner monologue as he is forced to take part for the umpteenth time. But the game suddenly intensifies when the old man realises that the words being played are becoming reality.

Hide Your Crazy (London Premiere)

Director: Austin Kase.  Cast: Amy-Helene Carlson, Will Toussaint.  US 2023.  14 min.

A young man’s surprise birthday dinner for his girlfriend is not met with the response he was expecting, leading to the most frightful night of their lives.

Bath Bomb (UK Premiere)

Director: Colin G Cooper. Cast: Anders Yates, Daniel Henkel.  US 2023.  10 min.

A possessive doctor prepares a romantic bath for his narcissistic boyfriend, but after an accusation of infidelity, things take a deeply disturbing turn.

Shadow (UK Premiere)

Director:  Kamell Allaway. Cast: Katy Wright-Mead, Valentina Gordon, Christy St. John.  US 2023.  12 min.

A young mother’s shadow takes on a life of its own, terrorizing her and her daughter over the course of one night.

Sketch (European Premiere)

Director: Joshua David Matthews. Cast: Erin Ownbey, Brett Brooks.  US 2024.  5 mins.

A young woman discovers the creature she just sketched is in the bedroom with her.

FOMO/Armageddon (World Premiere)

Director: Michael Niels Køppen Kunov.  Cast: Justin Geertsen, Stine Schrøder Jensen, Sandra Halle, Isabella Møller Hansen (voice).  DENMARK 2023.  12 mins.

The world is coming to an end and teenager William is convinced that it is his fault.

Trip (World Premiere)

Director: Colin Minihan.  Cast: Amanda Grace Benitez, Levi Meaden, Timothy Kennedy.  US 2023.  14 min.

Three friends take a designer drug that lifts an astral veil and introduces them to a mysterious figure named Tom. Whatever you do… don’t look him in the eye.

TOTAL RUN TIME: 105 mins

SUNDAY 25 AUGUST – SHORT FILM SHOWCASE 2

ODEON LUXE WEST END SCREEN 1 from 13:15

Safe (World Premiere)

Director: David Yorke.  Cast: Sharon Sibyl Gatt, Joshua Whincup.  UK 2023.  2 mins.

All is not as it seems when a young woman battles for her life against a relentless masked killer.

Breakfast (London Premiere)

Director: Shaun Munro.  Cast: Shaun Munro.  UK 2024.  12 mins.

A day that begins like any other soon enough descends into chaos for one man as a supernatural force terrorises him while he tries to eat his damn breakfast.

Deliverance (World Premiere)

Director: Kaljeven Singh Lally.  Cast: Tajinder Singh, Lauren Grace, George Drennan. 

UK 2024.  10 mins.

A Sikh delivery driver is asked for help by a customer, a Priest.

Off Cuts (World Premiere)

Director: Ben Steiner.  Cast: Simon Meacock, Alex Reid, Tim Wilderspin.  UK 2024.  4 mins.

It wants your bits.

The Vampire Theory (UK Premiere)

Director: Dominic Grose.  Cast: Corinne Strickett, Tom Harden.   UK 2023.   12 mins.

Oscar’s teeth have withered. After reading an old medical journal on the slow effects of vampirism, his reclusive mother fears that her sons only salvation is to evolve into something inhuman.

End of Days (London Premiere)

Director: Mimi Templar Gay.   Cast: Larry Dean, Michael Crump, Lou Conran.  UK 2024.  12 mins.

A folk horror mockumentary following a struggling Pagan cult as they attempt to bring about the end times.

The Milk Situation (European Premiere)

Director: John Ferrer.  Cast: Felix Garcia Guyer, James Bradwell, Annabel Brook.  UK 2024.  5 mins.

In a world overrun with monsters, Pip and Po’s clean up service is the only thing that stands between good and evil.

Nyctophobia (World Premiere)

Director: Blake Jett.  Cast: Abbie May Wilson.   UK 2024.  8 mins.

Whilst working the closing shift, a bar tender unintentionally frees a malevolent spirit from its previous containment.

Dead of Night (World Premiere)

Directors: Mikel Iriarte, Jack Downs.  Cast: Eryn Tett.  UK 2024.   2 mins.

A young woman moves into a new house and is awoken to something going bump in the night.

Open Your Eyes (World Premiere)

Director: Samantha Scaffidi.  Cast: Ella Loudon, Daisy Bevan, Ava Loudon – Lee.  US 2024.  14 mins.

Haunted by recurring dreams of a sinister hallway and a young girl, Lily does everything she can to stay awake, But the harder she tries the more her paranoia increases.

Yellowmeads (UK Premiere)

Director:  Christian Burnett.  Cast: Caroline Nield, Adie Mueller, Tina Nya, Darren Stoneham. UK 2024.  9 mins.

On the London council estate of Yellowmeads, Vicky is stalked by an unsettling stranger.

Skewered (London Premiere)

Director: Nick Ray Rutter. Cast: Hanako Footman, Graham Dickson.  UK 2023.  17 mins.

Opposing sexual appetites and dietary ethics bring a stagnant relationship to a theatrical and surprising crescendo as a heartfelt revelation confronts the elephant in the room.

Total Run Time 106 mins.

MONDAY 26 AUGUST – SHORT FILM SHOWCASE 3

ODEON LUXE WEST END SCREEN 1 from 10:50

Road Ahead Closed (World Premiere)

Director: Lily Paris.  Cast: Ciaran Lonsdale, Caitlyn Woodward, Lily Paris.  UK 2024.   8 mins.

Meeting a closed road on his route home, a young man takes a risky turn, only to become hopelessly lost on a maze of backroads, where something sinister lies in wait.

1 Star Review (World Premiere)

Director: John Ferrer.  Cast: Charlie Clee, Sarah J Parker, Amelie Leroy.  UK 2024.   9 mins.

Chef Michael has a murderous obsession with changing negative reviews to save his restaurant, but a date with his latest critic Elysia makes him question his motives.

Cakes! (London Premiere)

Director: Johnny Herbin.  Cast: Rebecca Ritchie-Smith.  UK 2024.   2 mins.

A grieving woman follows a singing cake into a magical world within her oven.

Unravelling (London Premiere)

Director: Aimie Willemse.  Cast: Shona McHugh, Sheila Grier.  UK 2024.   8 mins.

Fion tries to care for her chronically ill grandmother, but as her invisible illness begins to physically manifest into a malignant entity, Fiona is forced to confront her worse fears.

What A Catch (UK Premiere)

Director: Thomas Pickering.  Cast: Nathan Geering.  UK 2024.   5 mins.

On a late-night trip to the lake, a Victorian fisherman’s evening takes a sinister turn.

Clubhammer (World Premiere)

Director: Oscar Simmons.  Cast: Robert Rhodes, Elliot Eason.  UK 2024.   14 mins.

How much brutality can the bound Muse endure before reaching a breaking point?

The Wedding Veil of the Proud Princess (London Premiere)

Director: Anna-Ester Volozh.  Cast: Pik-Sen Lim (Voice).  UK 2024.   7 mins.

The most beautiful princess in the world demands the impossible: to marry a king who conquers all kings.

Body Worn Video (World Premiere)

Director: Tony Hipwell. Cast: Chanelle Alle, Oliver Devoti.  UK 2024.   11 mins.

A child abuse call isn’t the best way to end a day, but for officers Cane and Adel, it’s not just their shift that’s about to end …

Punch (World Premiere)

Director: Ross Scott.  Cast: Ben Allen, Ryan Marinello, Emily Morus-Jones.  UK 2024.   4 mins.

A mountain biker discovers an ancient puppet theatre deep within the forest, and he’s just in time for the show.

It’s Really You (European Premiere)

Director: Rich Rose.  Cast: Richard Huw, Aminita Francis, Joseph Adelakun.  UK 2024.   15 mins.

A priest arrives at a house to perform an exorcism, unaware that he’s about to be reunited with an old flame…

The Awakening (World Premiere)

Director: Al Campbell.  Cast: Daniel Mays. UK 2023.  15 mins.

Mike lives alone in a quiet village. He wakes one morning with muddy feet. Intrigued to know what he’s getting up to in the middle of the night, he sets his phone to record the room next time he goes to bed…

Total Run Time 98 mins

Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2024 runs from August 22 – 26 at ODEON Luxe Leicester Sq  and ODEON Luxe West End.

For full programme details & tickets: http://www.frightfest.co.uk/

Xavier Dolan Reveals 1800s Horror Film Project

xavier dolan as tom in tom at the farm

Xavier Dolan, best known for directing I Killed My Mother, It’s Only the End of the World and Tom at the Farm, has revealed that he’s working on a period horror film, set in 1880s France.

The untitled project plans to begin shooting late next year. Xavier Dolan told the podcast Sans Filtre that “it’s something I wrote before the pandemic, and I’m looking at again… it’s a genre film, a horror film, set in 1880s in France.” If the project goes ahead, it will be Dolan’s first feature since Matthias & Maxime, which premiered in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019.

“It feels removed from my life and what I know but on re-reading it, I understood that it is a film about the fear of failure, the fear of being rejected, of being misunderstood, the difficulty of creating,” Dolan continues, teasing what to expect from his upcoming project.

He adds, “Unconsciously, I’ve returned to the same themes, in a period that I don’t know, but which appeals to me and in a style which appeals to me, but with a completely different proposition. I feel that I can surpass myself, learn and grow with themes that are dear to me but in the horror genre.”

“It’s going to cost a lot. You’ve got the costumes, the lighting,” he said of the production, which he plans to shoot on location in and around the iconic Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy, as well as in the studio.

BAMBI: THE RECKONING Turns Another Beloved Kids’ Character To Murder

bambi: the reckoning cropped poster art

As promised, the team behind the Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey films continues to expand their “Poohniverse” with Bambi: The Reckoning. A corruptive horror twist on the classic children’s character, Bambi goes the way of Pooh to become a vicious killing machine.

Bambi: The Reckoning is promisingly being described as “Cujo meets Jurassic Park”. In it, “after a mother and son get in a car wreck, they soon become hunted by Bambi, a mutated and grief-stricken deer on a deadly rampage seeking revenge for the death of his mother” The film is aiming for an early 2025 release by ITN Studios and Premiere Entertainment.

Not mincing words, director Dan Allen (who previously helmed 2017’s Unhinged), previews, “It’s gonna be terrifying. When people see a deer in the wild after this film they’re gonna run for the hills. This film is about the death of childhoods as much as it’s gonna ruin childhoods. Expect bloodshed, tears and rabbits… and one mean killer deer. At last, the British countryside will finally get its Godzilla.” Rhys Warrington wrote the script.

The “Twisted Childhood Universe,” dubbed the Poohniverse, will also feature previously announced films Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare and Pinocchio Unstrung, and introduce new characters such as Sleeping Beauty, The Mad Hatter, and Rabbit from Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey. All of these characters will come together in Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble in 2025 when the childhood heroes-turned-villains join forces to take down the world.

Bloody Disgusting broke the news, and exclusively unveiled the poster for Bambi: The Reckoning.

Watch the Awesome ONCE AND FUTURE SMASH and END ZONE 2 Now!

Following its premiere at FrightFest two years ago, the mockumentary The Once and Future Smash and its companion piece, the ‘lost’ slasher End Zone 2, is now available to stream ahead of its physical release.

The film follows the stars of the American football-based ‘70s cult film End Zone 2 at a signing convention as they hope to grab the role of Smash Mouth in a rumoured reboot. Michael St Michael (The Greasy Strangler) is Mikey Smash and Bill Weeden (Sgt Kabukiman N.Y.P.D.) is William Mouth, while A.J. Cutler takes the role of A.J., Mikey’s assistant. The film’s hilarious premise also features earnest talking head footage of the likes of V.C. Dupree (Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan), Victor Miller (writer of Friday the 13th), Richard Elfman (director of Forbidden Zone) and more.

It’s directed by Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein (Blood of the Tribades), who won the Best Feature award at the 2019 STARBURST Film Festival for Clickbait. You can watch the documentary as well as the restored version of End Zone 2 (or at least all that remains of it!) below.

The films will be available on VOD and Blu-ray soon. For more information, head over to https://launchover.com/launch/film/the-once-and-future-smash/

Extra Movie and Guests Announced for Pigeon Shrine FrightFest [updated]

The current guest list for this year’s Pigeon Shrine FrightFest has been revealed alongside an extra film that will screen on Friday, August 23rd at 8.30pm

The movie is the new 4K remaster of the classic, much-loved The Hitcher (1986). The cult film is directed by Robert Harmon and stars C. Thomas Howell, Rutger Hauer, Jennnifer Jason Leigh, Jeffrey DeMunn. The screening heralds the 4K UHD release by Studiocanal.

As always, there will be a fabulous array of guests from all over the world attending, including some returning friends of the festival. Director Joanne Mitchell will be there for the opening film Broken Bird alongside cast members Rebecca Calder and James Fleet. Saint Clare director Mitzi Peirone and FrightFest favourite Graham Skipper will be introducing his new movie The Lonely Man with the Ghost Machine, as well as hosting FrightFest’s annual quiz.

Other international directors attending include Joshua Erkman for A Desert, Cutter Hodierne for Cold Wallet, Parker Brennon for Hauntology, Tim Cruz for Ladybug, alongside cast including Anthony Del Negro, Chris Struckman for Selby Oaks, alongside lead actor Camille Sullivan, Elric Kane for The Dead Thing, Loic Tanson for The Last Ashes, Pierre Tsigardis for Traumatika, Mike Capes for The Invisible Raptor, Aurelia Mengin for Scarlet  Blue, Rye Levey for Boutique: To Preserve And Collect, J.D Phillips for Cursed In Baja, Arro Stefansson for Delirium, Philip da Silva for From Darkness, Ludvig Gür for In The Name Of God, Buddy Cooper for Mutilator 2, Vivieno Caldinelli for Scared Shitless, Michael Felker for Things Will Be Different, Michael Turney for Video Vision, and David Yohe and Matt Devino for The Daemon. Also, we are pleased that John Farrelly, the director of An Hiabhse (The Ghost), the first Irish Language horror film ever made, will be joining us with the main cast.

Other returning FrightFest alumni are Jake West, who, on its 25th year anniversary, will be hosting a special 4K Restoration screening of Razor Blade Smile, Neil Marshall and Chris Smith, who are contributors for Sarah Appleton and Phillip Escott’s documentary Generation Terror, director Micky Keating for Invader, director Jill Gevargizian for Ghost Game, alongside lead actor Kia Dorsey, and director Brian Hanson for The Bunker, alongside lead actor Chelsea Edmundson.

Homegrown talent will be present in abundance this year. We have director Marc Coleman for Members Club, alongside cast including Steve Oram, director Sean Cronin for Bogieville, alongside cast including Sarah Alexandra Marks, Ayvianna Snow, Andrew Lee Potts, and Sarina Taylor, attending with Queen’s Roger Taylor, director Jon Spiro for The Life And Deaths Of Christopher Lee, alongside Jonathan Rigby, (Lee’s biographer), directors Justin Hardy, Dominic Hardy, and Chris Nunn for Children Of The Wicker Man, director Louisa Warren plus cast for Cinderella’s Curse, director Warren Dudley plus cast for Fright, director Jonathan Zaurin plus cast for Derelict, director and actor Georgia Conlan for Charlotte, with lead actor Dean Kilbey (who also stars in Members Club and Derelict), director Hayden Hewitt with Cara, alongside cast including Johnny Vivash and Laurence R. Harvey, and director Elliott Léon with The Freaks Of Fancy.

The First Blood strand goes from strength to strength and all the helmers will be around, supported by their cast and crews. We have The Monster Beneath Us director Sophie Osbourne, Scopophobia director Alec Owen, Touchdown director Josephine Rose, YEAR 10 director Benjamin Goodger, Protein director Tony Burke and 7 Keys director Joy Wilkinson. Another ‘discovery’ is Damon Rickard, a FrightFest regular turned film director, who will be presenting his debut feature Never Have I Ever.

This year sees the return of the Duke Mitchell team, back to help celebrate the 25th edition of the festival with a film party where guests will lose their sanity in a maelstrom of celluloid-tinged madness. Expect trailers, trains, scary PSEs, delightful discoveries, and, most importantly, utter chaos.

Also, Film Sussex, run by FrightFest stalwart Chris Collier, presents From Figment To Finance, A Case Study, a presentation hosted by film producer Jen Handoff (Prevenge, The Borderlands). This free event will demystify the complexities of film finance through an in-depth case study of an award-winning horror film currently in development.

In an event sure to be hotly debated, Tom Paton, head of FrightFest’s headline sponsor, Pigeon Shrine, will host an open forum entitled AI: For You? Tom will invite a discussion on the future of entertainment production and the role that AI technology will play. This is a free event.

There will also be a closed caption screening of The Last Voyage of the Demeter, courtesy of Lionsgate.

Pigeon Shrine FrightFest takes place from August 22nd to 26th at The Odeon Luxe Leicester Square and The Odeon Luxe West End. For full programme details, head over to http://www.frightfest.co.uk/

WILDERNESS REFORM Being Adapted By KNOCK AT THE CABIN Scribes

wilderness reform book cover art

Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman, the writing team behind M. Night Shyamalan’s previous thriller Knock at the Cabin, have been tapped to adapt the coming-of-age horror thriller Wilderness Reform. The Paramount Pictures project is based on the novel of the same name, authored by Harrison Query and Matt Query.

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines writer-director Lindsey Anderson Beer will be producing the feature via her Lab Brew production company, as part of her first-look deal with Paramount. Ground Control’s Scott Glassgold is also aboard as producer.

In the Wilderness Reform novel, thirteen-year-old Ben is sent to a remote reform program for troubled teens by a juvenile court judge. But when he arrives at the camp, located on the edge of the vast wilderness of north-western Montana, he immediately senses that there is something off about the counsellors. Not only that they’re too friendly and upbeat, but that there’s something sinister lurking in the camp.

As he gets to know the boys in his cabin, he soon discovers that they each have far more going for them than whatever crime landed them there. And each has a different critical skill, one that could help them unearth what is really going on in this place—and how to make it out alive. They are inching ever closer to the truth, and the hidden evil beneath the camp’s surface will make itself known in order to deter them.

Justin Simien And Tawny Newsome To Helm New STAR TREK Series

star trek: brave new worlds actress tawny newsome is teaming with justin simien to write a new live-action star trek comedy series

A new, live-action Star Trek series is in the works, this time from Justin Simien, the writer-director of Dear White People and The Haunted Mansion, and Star Trek: Lower Decks voice actress Tawny Newsome. She portrays one of the lead characters, Ensign Beckett Mariner, and also played her in live action for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

The announcement was made during the Star Trek Universe panel in Hall H at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. The new series will be an action comedy that centres on Federation outsiders who are working on a gleaming resort planet. Not only that, but their day-to-day lives are being broadcast to the entire quadrant. Sources say the show may have workplace comedy tones of The Office and Parks and Recreation.

Justin Simien has history with the franchise, having previously stated that The Next Generation was a key influence on his writing for Dear White People. Newsome, meanwhile, became a writer on the upcoming Starfleet Academy series and impressed Alex Kurtzman to such an extent that he referred to her as a “stone cold assassin of a writer”. The writing pair convinced Kurtzman to develop the series for Paramount+, which they will also produce.

The show, if it receives a series order, would join a line-up of live-action and animated series that includes Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks and the upcoming, aforementioned Starfleet Academy.

Planetarium Lates launches at Edinburgh Fringe

Do you enjoy the Edinburgh Fringe? Do you like planetary science? Do you enjoy a really, really comfortable seat?

If the answer to all of these questions is ‘yes’, then Dynamic Earth, tucked away near the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood, has got you covered.

Bravely, they’re dipping a toe into being involved with the intensity of Edinburgh’s annual festival season, and hosting two events throughout August. We were invited to a preview of ‘You Are Here’, a 45-minute journey through the solar system, demonstrating our place within it.

An actual astronomer leads us through the incredible imagery – of our planet, of the moons of Saturn, and even of Edinburgh itself. The imagery is staggering, with details that technology now allows us to see clearly, often for the first time.

Alongside mentions of the two Voyager missions, there’s also references to crewed space-flight, and exactly how close most of those missions have stayed to our planet.

This is a staggering piece of entertainment, which also delivers solid scientific facts in a way that is accessible to even those of us who found GCSE Science a bit much.

Alongside this expedition into the far reaches of the Milky Way, the Planetarium is also showing images of the sound system accompanied by Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. There are multiple showings of this, the full 1973 album, playing in rep with You Are Here.

And the seats really are the most comfortable in the fringe!

Planetarium Lates continues at Dynamic Earth EH8 8AS until August 24th. See their website for full details of show dates and times.

STAR TREK: SECTION 31 Trailer Is Finally Here

michelle yeoh in the first trailer for star trek: section 31

The long-awaited first trailer for the Michelle Yeoh-starring film, Star Trek: Section 31, is finally here to reenergise the franchise. Paramount+ revealed a two-minute first look at the Star Trek: Discovery spinoff movie, which has Everything Everywhere All at Once Oscar-winning actress Yeoh reprising her role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou.

Section 31 sees Georgiou joining a secret “black ops” division of Starfleet, which will see her “tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets,” and “facing the sins of her past”. The trailer, which you can watch below, has a much more rebellious, energetic vibe than recent Star Trek fare.

The television film is directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi from a script by Craig Sweeny. Omari Hardwick, Kacey Rohl, Sam Richardson, Sven Ruygrok, Robert Kazinsky, Humberly Gonzalez, and James Hiroyuki Liao also star.

The road to Section 31 was not a direct one: it was originally conceived as a spinoff series in 2017 during the filming of the first season of Discovery, before entering talks in 2018. The project seemed to pick up steam in 2019 when it went into active development with Yeoh attached to star, before growing stagnant in subsequent years. It wasn’t until last year that the project was ordered as a film.

Star Trek: Section 31 will premiere on Paramount+ in early 2025. 

Robert Downey Jr. Returns To The MCU: Everything We Know

robert downey jr. returns to mcu as victor von doom aka doctor doom

In a shocking twist of events, Robert Downey Jr. was announced to be returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Doctor Doom, aka Victor von Doom, one of the greatest villains in comic book lore. The news was revealed at Comic-Con to a crowd that promptly lost their minds.

RDJ, Marvel’s most bankable star, will be joined on this journey by the Russo Brothers, the filmmakers who were behind Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and who were recently announced to be directing Avengers: Doomsday in 2026 (previously titled The Kang Dynasty) and Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027, which will close out the MCU’s Phase 6.

“If we’re going to bring Victor Von Doom to the screen — he is one of the more complex characters in all of comics … this is potentially one of the more entertaining characters in all of fiction,” said Joe Russo in Hall H. “If we’re going to do this … then we are going to need the greatest actor in the world.”

In all honesty, this feels like a cheap, desperate move from Kevin Feige to right the downward trend in Marvel movies’ box office performance post-2019, and an attempt to hastily reorient Phase 6’s arc after the arrest and conviction of Jonathan Majors removed Kang from the slate. It also feels like a betrayal of Iron Man’s character, who Downey portrayed for a decade and who received one of the greatest send-offs in Avengers: Endgame, along with a heart-wrenching epilogue in Spider-Man: Far From Home.

Watch the live announcement, in which Robert Downey Jr. first steps out as Doctor Doom, below: