The horror community lost a giant on New Year's Day. In the early morning hours, a driver lost control of his BMW, crossed the median and struck the Honda in which David was a passenger. David was instantly killed in the collision. The BMW driver was arrested at the scene, on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Throughout his professional life, David Skal wrote about horror movies, literary works and actors. He appeared as a historian in a number of documentaries and on classic movie audio commentaries for the home video market. Among his more popular books were "The Monster Show: A Cultural History Of Horror", "Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web Of Dracula From Novel To Stage To Screen", "Dark Carnival: The Secret World Of Tod Browning", "Fright Favorites: 31 Movies To Haunt Your Halloween And Beyond", "Something In The Blood: The Untold Story Of Bram Stoker; The Man Who Wrote" along with many others.

At conventions and special appearances, he was a fan favorite, due to the fact that he was funny, friendly and willing to give of his time and answer seemingly endless questions. The few times I met him we talked about myriad subjects and, although he was certainly the smarter guy in each conversation, he never made me feel like the blithering idiot I'm certain I sounded like. I think that was among his superpowers. I know I will remember him fondly for the way he made me feel and for his countless contributions to the genre we all love. He will surely be missed.

David Skal was 73.

David Skal: Author, Historian, MonsterKid, Killed On January 1st.

         In a recent interview with Robert Taylor, Bruce Campbell stated that even though he has retired the character of Ash, he still loves the franchise and believes the movies should be released on a more regular time frame. Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert, and Campbell are completely in agreement on this.

“We’re going to do them probably more like every two to three years now, rather than every 10 years”, Bruce states with confidence. “But, hey, as we’ve seen with Star Wars, you don’t want to wear people out. Keep them guessing! That said, Evil Dead Rise made the most money of any Evil Dead movie so far at $140 million. So, yeah, you can bet your bottom dollar we’re going to do a few more."

There has been no official announcement yet. But now that the Writers and Actors are back to work, word could come any day. When it does, we’ll make sure you know about it.

The Dead Will Rise... Again!

     "Fear The Invisible Man", written by Phillip Daay and directed by Paul Dudbridge, will be available in digital, on demand and DVD by the time you’ve finished reading this. The film stars Mike Beckingham, Mark Arnold, David Hayman, and Mhairi Calvey as Adeline... a young British widow who goes out of her way to protect an old medical school colleague who has managed to turn himself invisible. Was it an accident or was it deliberate? Either way, there’s a problem; Adeline sees her colleague becoming more and more shut off from the world. She observes his sanity slipping away and he becomes more dangerous to the city he calls home and to Adeline.

You can see "Fear The Invisible Man" starting today... or can you?

When Can You See The Invisible Man?

"Beetlejuice 2! Beetlejuice 2! Beetlejuice 2!"

     Warner Bros has finally announced one of the most rumor-generating movie sequels in cinema history; “Beetlejuice 2,” due out in 2024. The long-awaited Tim Burton film signals the return of the original stars, Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, along with the addition of “Scream VI” and “Wednesday” star, Jenna Ortega.

The original masterpiece's success, back in 1988, was largely due to some pretty fancy special effects and a stellar cast, including Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis; as the recently deceased young couple, the Maitlands, pair perfectly with Keaton and Rider.

Talk of the sequel has been the topic of the rumor mill for years. Burton and Keaton had both hinted, as far back as 2013, that a second film might be possible.

Unclear whether the ongoing writers’ strike will affect the “Beetlejuice 2” production schedule, the sequel is currently set to premiere in theaters on Friday, September 6th, 2024.

Will Evil Dead re-Rise In The Future?

     Evil Dead Rise Producer Bruce Campbell states that the movies will progress more often than in the past. “We’re going to try to do them every 2 to 3 years now, rather than every decade.” He went on to say that Sam Raimi is writing an overall Bible, that will suggest to Directors and Writers where the franchise should go next. "So, I think it’s going to get a little more tied-in as the years go by.”

“It’s all about the books now,” the Producer announced. “It’s not about any one character, including Ash. “We know there are three books out there, and none of them are any good. It’s about where that book winds up, who gets it and what happens to them, as a result.”

Writer and Director Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise stars Alyssa Sutherland and Lily Sullivan, as two sisters who come in contact with one of those books. I can’t imagine what they are going to go through. But one thing’s for sure… it’ll be Hell.

Hell's Half Acre Lands This Week

Shudder's Craig Engler Set To Give Us The Shivers

     John Patrick Tomasek’s HELL’S HALF ACRE, will be released worldwide this  month, from Terror Films. It follows Marcus as he leads Jessie, Dan, Jose, and Cassie, his group of young explorers, to abandoned locations for the YouTube channel he runs, called Strange and Abandoned Places.

They soon discover that the abandoned Rockland Heights Prison is unlike any other location they’ve ever been to before, as strange things begin to occur almost immediately after their arrival.

Quinn Nehr, Brynn Beveridge, and Omar Vegga Jr. star in this creepfest, for those of you who need another reason to stay out of prison.

     Craig Engler, the former General Manager at Shudder, is sticking with the scare business with his next venture (along with The Cartel; responsible for Shudder’s “Creepshow”). They have teamed up to make and finance up to ten theatrical-first horror movies per year under their new banner Shiver Studios.

The pair of movies that will first hear the sound of the clapboard, are “Incident At Joshua Tree” and “Bloody Mary”.

Time For A Return To "Real" Monsters!

     A huge monster emerges from a lake, after her egg has been taken, and unleashes Hell on the residents of a small town. While the plot for the Lee Thongham and Aqing Xu co-directed monster film, "The Lake", sounds a bit familiar, the directors are promising all-new scares - by way of a mostly-practical-effects monster!

Effects maestro Jordu Schell ("The Mist", "Cloverfield", "Predators", "Cabin In The Woods") helped the monster come to life with CGI-enhanced, practical life-size animatronics. And judging by the clips I've seen, Jordu, and the rest of the Special Effects units, succeeded big time!

Look for the trailer in your local theater... or, better yet, right here!

(Just click the play arrow & bring it full screen in the bottom right corner. ENJOY!)

Is The Exorcist 2023 A Repossession?

     Not much is known about the upcoming Exorcist sequel, at this time. So why are we writing about it? Because it's a freakin' Exorcist sequel!

The good news: Ellen Burstyn is set to return in her old familiar role. And considering she's good in everything she does, that's a biggie in the YES column. The potentially bad news: Some of the folks behind the less-than-stellar (And I'm being kind, here!) Halloween trilogy (2018-2022) are behind this one, too. And the fact that they tend to run tepid-to-lukewarm has warning signs all over it. Now, I'm old enough to admit to being wrong about a few of the sequels I thought were going to be losers, so I'll be fair enough to wait and see. Let's just say that I'm hoping for the best and leave it at that.

The Exorcist 2023 opens October 13, 2023.

     The much-anticipated game, Dead Island 2, is finally seeing the light of day. In the past, it has been hit with release delay after release delay, which is never a good sign.

It now appears that everyone involved, on the production end, says that the game's release is right around the corner.

Welcome news for the long-suffering fans who are just waiting to sink their teeth into this one.

Dead Island 2 Is Alive And Well!

WWZ2

Hopefully Not Coming Back From The Dead!

     Since the sequel to World War Z was announced, a long, long time ago, there have been a ton of changes; leaving many to wonder if they're ever going to have to sit through another go 'round. Thankfully, it appears that this festering corpse is not coming back for seconds.

First, J. A. Bayona left, due to scheduling problems. So, David Fincher stepped in to direct #2. If I'm being perfectly honest, I love Fincher's work. It killed me that he was stepping in the WWZ2 dung pile. So the film officially went into pre-production as 2018 ended and 2019 began. Flash forward to February - that's right. One month later - and Paramount decided to pull the plug, citing a reluctance to fund Fincher's slightly-over-200-million-dollar budget. Adding to the potential problems was China's decision to ban all zombie movies; past, present and future.  Because China is such a driving force of box office success and failure, it just made it impossible for the studio to see a profitable future for WWZ2. So, I guess that's the final coffin nail... perhaps.

I'll warn you to stay tuned. I just hope, in this case, there's no need to.

MANAGING EDITOR'S COMMENT: Almost without exception, everyone here loved Max Brooks' book, World War Z. We thought it was brilliant and it's on my personal Top 25 Favorite Books list.

AND almost without exception, everyone here hated the movie. So, if it appears that we're promoting any cinematic sequels with a negatively-biased slant... we sure-as-shit are!