VIPCO Announce DEVIL IN THE WOODS

vipco devil

The latest release to be announced for the recently relaunched VIPCO label will be Devil in the Woods.

The directorial debut of Terence Elliot, Devil in the Woods stars Dani Thompson, Tim Faraday, and Gemma Wilks. The official synopsis is:

Four young friends, after drifting apart due to tragedy, re-connect working on a film studies project. As time ticks on, and fractures appear, the group decide to make a film in the woods under the blood moon, but they are not alone.

The film will be available on DVD and Blu-ray, and poster and film bundles will be available from the official VIPCO shop. The release includes the trailer and a making of feature as extras.

Devil in the Woods is available to pre-order now ahead of the January 8th 2021 release.

Head over to https://www.vipcoltd.com/shop/ to order now. There are also VIPCO merchandise and the label’s first release, the documentary VHS Forever? Psychotronic People is still available.

VIPCO

Dinklage Gets TOXIC

toxic avenger

It’s reported that Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage will be starring in Legendary’s long-awaited remake of the cult classic The Toxic Avenger.

Deadline reports that Dinklage will join the project, to be helmed by Blue Ruin star Macon Blair. The original 1984 Troma film went onto spawn numerous sequels and even a hugely successful stage musical, with the character becoming the figurehead for the company. The original directors, Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, will serve as producers on the update. More news when we have it.

Bradley Walsh and Tosin Cole Confirm DOCTOR WHO Exit

Doctor Who Graham Ryan

Two of the Doctor’s travelling companions will leave the show in Doctor Who’s New Year’s Day special, Revolution of the Daleks, it has been confirmed.

The episode, written by Chris Chibnall, will see Graham, Ryan and Yaz left on Earth to deal with a Dalek plot, as the Doctor passes her time in a space prison. But the events of this adventure, and possibly the influence of Captain Jack Harkness, will lead Graham and Ryan, played by Bradley Walsh and Tosin Cole, to call an end to their time in the TARDIS after two full series.

This has been rumoured for a while, and it’s no surprise to see it confirmed now that filming on the 8-episode Series 13 has begun. That series, we now can be sure, will see Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor continue to travel time and space with Mandip Gill’s Yaz.

On the grandad and grandson pairing’s final episode, Walsh said: “It is very, very dramatic. It is very sad. It is quite sad and poignant is the word. You can expect a lot of poignancy from the episode.”

This news comes shortly after the first trailer for Revolution of the Daleks, which revealed new info about the plot and guest cast.

DOCTOR WHO: REVOLUTION OF THE DALEKS Gets Release Date and Guest Cast

Doctor Who Revolution of the Daleks

When we last saw the Doctor, in what seems like an age ago but was in fact March 2020, she was banged up in space prison, while her friends returned to life on Earth. This year’s festive Doctor Who special, Revolution of the Daleks, picks up where The Timeless Children left off, and we now have a lot more info.

Firstly, Doctor Who isn’t, as a lot of us had hoped, returning to BBC One’s Christmas Day schedule. Instead, it’s following in the footsteps of previous Jodie Whittaker-era specials and airing on New Year’s Day. At least, with New Year parties not being a thing this year, we might not be watching it through as much of a hungover haze as with Spyfall Part One.

And, thanks to a new trailer you can see below, we now know a bit about the episode’s story and guest cast. It looks like it’ll be a political thriller in which the British Prime Minister, played by Dame Harriet Walter (Killing Eve, The Crown), announces the deployment of ‘drones’ suspiciously similar to Daleks.

As if that wasn’t “this will go badly” enough, the scheme also involves Jack Robertson, the disgraced Trump-alike from Series 11’s Arachnids in the UK, with Chris Noth returning to the role.

Speaking of returning Jacks, Jack’s back! After that odd cameo in Fugitive of the Judoon, John Barrowman is actually properly in this one, returning as Captain Jack Harkness to fight the Daleks and, it seems, ask Graham, Ryan and Yaz (Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, and Mandip Gill) tough questions about what it means to travel with the Doctor.

Oh, and the Daleks have been redesigned, again. That plus their employment by the PM makes this feel like a modern retread of Victory of the Daleks, so let’s hope Chris Chibnall’s effort becomes better remembered than that controversial 2010 episode. We’ll find out for sure on New Year’s Day, but for now, here’s that trailer in full:

Dave Prowse MBE 1935 – 2020

prowse

STARBURST is saddened to learn of the death of Dave Prowse, loved by fans all over the universe for playing Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy.

The Bristol-born actor started out as a bodybuilder and later opened gyms and trained other actors for their film roles. His first on-screen appearance came in 1967 when he had a cameo playing the Frankenstein monster in the spoof James Bond film Casino Royale. This would be prophetic as three years later, he’d be playing the role properly for Hammer Films in The Horror of Frankenstein. He’d reprise the role once more – under different makeup – in Hammer’s Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell in 1974, alongside Peter Cushing.

Various small parts in films such as Up Pompeii (1971), Carry On Henry (1971), Russ Meyer’s Black Snake (1973), and Vampire Circus (1971), as well as TV appearances as creatures in Doctor Who and Space: 1999 would bolster his profile. It was as the bodyguard Julian in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971) that would bring him to the attention of George Lucas, who offered Prowse the chance to audition for two parts: Darth Vader and Chewbacca. Dave chose to accept the former as “Everyone remembers the bad guys”. It was a part that would reunite him with Peter Cushing and cement his legendary status.

The role that Prowse was most proud of, however, was The Green Cross Code Man in a series of public service commercials in the UK. Clad in a Superman-type outfit (Prowse also trained Christopher Reeve for the iconic part), he would teach children about road safety. He also toured schools and no doubt saved many lives in the process. He was awarded the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in 2000 for his services to charity and road safety.

Dave became a popular figure at conventions over the years before retiring from the scene several years ago.

STARBURST sends our thoughts and sympathy to his family and friends. May the Force be with you.


Demon Records and BBC See in the New Year with WHO and GENTLY

The BBC and Demon Records have announced a fantastic pair of new releases for January.

First up is the Doctor Who: The Edge of Time soundtrack. The Edge of Time is an immersive VR video game and the soundtrack will be available on vinyl for the first time. An original composition by Richard Wilkinson, specially created for this VR experience, this double LP is pressed on 140g colour vinyl (Red and Purple LP) and presented in a gatefold. Side D has an etching of the ‘Seal of Rassilon’.

The story of the game has a mysterious enemy threatens to tear apart the universe and only you can stop them! Armed with the sonic screwdriver, players will solve mind-bending puzzles, grapple with iconic monsters and encounter new horizons in a quest to find the Doctor and defeat a powerful force that threatens to destroy the fabric of reality.

Doctor Who: The Edge of Time soundtrack is released on January 22nd 2021.

Also released is Dirk Gently – The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, on triple gatefold vinyl for the first time. Harry Enfield returns as the singular detective in this full-cast BBC radio dramatisation of the novel by Douglas Adams. First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2008, these fantastically entertaining comedy sci-fi dramas are adapted and directed by Dirk Maggs, acclaimed for his dramatisations of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Good Omens, Neverwhere and many others.

The synopsis is: When Dirk Gently’s long-suffering secretary, Janice, resigns to work in an airport, it’s the beginning of a very strange adventure for both of them. The detective takes to reading palms whilst dressed as an old gypsy woman, but meanwhile the ancient Norse God Odin has fallen into the hands of an unscrupulous advertising executive (and her husband). Bring on Odin’s son, Thor, a godlike curse that turns Janice into a vending machine, and countless other interconnected things.

Dirk Gently – The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul is released on January 29th, 2021. Both vinyl releases can be pre-order through the links below:

Daria Nicolodi 1950 – 2020

daria nicolodi

Celebrated Italian actor and ex-partner of Dario Argento, Daria Nicolodi has passed away.

She was famous among horror fans as the star of the Argento movies Profondo rosso (Deep Red) (1975), Tenebrae (1982), Phenomena (1985), Opera (1987), and alongside their daughter Asia in The Mother of Tears (2007). Daria also appeared in Mario Bava’s final film, Shock (1977). She wrote the screenplay for Suspiria (1977), but was unable to act in the film as planned due to an injury (she would appear briefly at the airport in the opening, however).

Following her separation from Argento in 1985, Daria would write two films for Luigi Cozzi, Paganini Horror and The Black Cat (both 1989), as well as appearing in the former film.

STARBURST sends our thoughts to Daria’s family and friends.

The Hunt is Back On! PREDATOR 5 in Development…

predator

“This was meant to be a surprise. Been working on this for almost 4 years now. I am very sad that what we had in store for how you could discover this movie will no longer happen. It’s a bummer. But also…YAY!”

This was 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg recently lamenting on Twitter the proverbial cat that had just escaped from a proverbial bag: we’re getting a new Predator movie!

Trachtenberg might have been bummed, but this is still a huge surprise to fans of the franchise who’d all but given up hope that we’d see the creature return to screens for quite a while in the wake of 2018’s entry, The Predator. Whether you liked the movie or not (loved it, personally), all of us can agree on the fact it was a box office disaster for 20thCentury Fox. Underperformance usually sees properties benched indefinitely, as studios really aren’t that keen on losing money. Funny that.

As the Tweet details, the fifth Predator movie has long been in development, going as far back as 2016, two years prior to the release of Shane Black’s movie. This will likely put paid to any notion that the story will continue on from The Predator, so anybody hoping to see Boyd Holbrook rocking ‘The Predator Killer’ suit should let go of those notions now. It’s also been pointed out by Bloody Disgusting that Trachtenberg has long been attached to a mystery project entitled Skulls, which would follow a Comanche woman challenging her role in her tribe to become a warrior. Original Predatorproducer John Davis was also noted as being involved in Skulls, so could this be who the Predator is going to go head-to-head with next? Or (and please indulge our fantasies here for a moment), since Disney now owns the creature and will soon be producing Marvel Comics based on the Predator mythos (and his Xenomorph besties), could they fold them into the MCU as this upcoming cover suggest?

predator

Unlikely. But we can dream. We’d even settle for more of The Predator Killer.

Source: Deadline

Chiodos Update on KILLER KLOWNS 2

Killer Klowns from Outer Space

Due to it being illegal for well-adjusted people to watch Christmas films before December 1st, it’s largely gone unnoticed so far that The Chiodo brothers – directors of the wonderful cult classic Killer Klowns from Outer Space – dropped a new movie on Netflix last week; the animated 40-min holiday special Alien Xmas is based on their 2015 illustrated children’s book and boasts The Mandalorian’s Jon Favreau as one of its producers. Despite the minimal buzz (give it time), there has been excitement bubbling anew for Killer Klowns 2. As it does every time one of the Chiodos ties to promote another project that dares not feature cosmic, human-consuming harlequins.

Bottom line, they’ve been trying to get the sequel made for decades, but their pleas are falling on dead ears over at MGM, who own the rights. But all hope is not completely lost. Firstly, speaking with ComicBook.com, Stephen Chiodo urged fans of the 1988 film to get campaigning – “write MGM and say, ‘Where’s our sequel? Where’s that property? It’s really the fanbase. The fanbase has to be more vocal to MGM more than us, because they control it.”

It may seem like madness that Killer Klowns hasn’t garnered a follow-up in the thirty-two years since, and the Chiodos agree, “we’ve been trying to do a sequel since we made the film and fans get angry with us. We don’t mention it too much, because they get angry. But we’re trying. The business is just a bear, moves at a glacial pace. There’s interest, and it wanes and flows. You get some executives who really want to do it, then, all of a sudden, musical chairs. They’re out, a new regime is in, and they don’t get it. We’ll see how Alien Xmas does with the Netflix people. We’ll see if they can embrace our sensibility.”

And there lies Road 2. If us fans really do want to see more from the Killer Klowns, get supporting Alien Xmas on Netflix and let’s turn this into a new Christmas classic! Netflix are well known for their support of filmmakers and if the viewing figures warrant it, they’ll surely happily indulge further projects from the Chiodos.

To read the rest of the interview, head to ComicBook.com. But go watch Alien Xmas first, and let’s hope we’ll have some concrete news on Killer Klowns 2 soon!

Official Synopsis:

‘On Christmas Eve, in this quiet little outpost at the top of the world, the battle for Earth began. Aliens swarmed the castle-like insects, and Santa and the elves defended the village the best they could. Gift-wrapping guns bound the invaders in colourful paper and ribbon-like mummies. Candy cane slingshots fired snowballs. Vats of caramel doused aliens climbing castle walls.’

Marvel Studios Brings in DEADPOOL 3 Writers

Deadpool Colossus

For those fearing that a third Deadpool movie wouldn’t happen, now comes the hugely positive news that just such a film has found its writing team.

Of course, Deadpool is now under the Disney and Marvel Studios banner following the House of Mouse’s assimilation of 20th Century Fox. Given the more extreme elements of the Merc with a Mouth, some wondered whether Deadpool 3 would ever happen under the watch of the more family-friendly Disney organisation.

As per Deadline, Marvel Studios has hired Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin to write Deadpool 3. The Molyneux sister as likely best known for co-creating The Great North and for their work as writers and producers on Bob’s Burgers.

The current plan is for Deadpool 3 to maintain the R-rating handed out to its two predecessors, with soon-to-be Wrexham AFC co-owner Ryan Reynolds to return as Wade Wilson. One person not returning, however, is Deadpool 2 director David Leitch. Due to a packed schedule, Leitch has not been involved in any of the pitch meetings taken so far for Deadpool 3, and so the hunt is on for a director for this threequel.

Expect more on Deadpool 3 as we get it.