Horror Report: Because it's a scary world: 2018-09-23

HALLOWEEN promotion continues, this time in Entertainment WEEKLY

JAMIE LEE CURTIS.. the scream queen. Back on the cover of Entertainment WEEKLY thanks to the John Carpenter re-imagining re-make re-creation of the original 1978 classic HALLOWEEN..

The movie has some hoping for a $65 mil opening weekend.. or more?? $80 Mil? One prognosticator who clearly is in camp Carpenter wrote that the movie has the chance on scoring a cool $100 mil..

But one question may be this: How fun will HALLOWEEN be?

The original was cutting edge. It's tough to be cutting edge with 40 years of horror creations that have attempted to duplicate the efforts of Debra Hill and John Carpenter on a low budget with a piano in the 1970s...

This from the EW story is interesting:

Green insists Halloween lovers need not worry. “We’re really trying to honor Carpenter’s vision,” says the filmmaker. “Danny said a really smart thing: ‘Until there’s killings, there’s no jokes. Let’s not give anybody anything to laugh at until we’ve scared them s—less.’”

Humor free.
no frills.. no fun. just kills and runs..

Time will tell if these efforts to play to the darker side of Halloween lure will be fruitful in the form of dollars and cents. And sense.

Heather Wade gets the radio room ready

While ferocious debate continues on the HORROR REPORT and other websites that speculate and opine about these issues of paranormal radio talk show hosts, Heather Wade is getting ready for her premiere as host of THE KINGDOM OF NYE radio..

Wade posted a photo today on her Facebook page showcasing the radio room where she will broadcast from.

Fans of Art Bell may recognize a few things.. from the clock to the floor. Wade continues to broadcast from the same location in Pahrump Nevada where Bell made himself home to fans on MIDNIGHT IN THE DESERT.

Controversy developed from an interview last week that Karen Jackson did on the Bartcast .. One of the ABs, Art Bell's widow Airyn Bell, even made a statement on the program concerning recent developments..

The statement suggests that Wade should do her her show with her own name.. She also said she wants less drama...

Art Bell fans over the decades became used to drama.. But the death of Bell has caused a surge in vitriolic rage among fans..

All eyes on October 1 as the new phase of Drama in the Desert begins..

DEVELOPING..

The top ten Halloween costumes in 2018

THE TOP TEN HALLOWEEN COSTUMES IN 2018

Image result for tonya harding halloween costume

1. Tonya Harding: Feeling like the 90s all over again! Tonya is the way to go.. get a bat and don't take crap..

Image result for riverdale halloween costumes

2. A Riverdale character: Riverdale is an American teen drama television series based on the characters of Archie Comics.. Not sure if people over the age or 25 will know who you are when you come to the door..

3. A 90’s icon: Nostalgia is in. But people who grew up in the 80s and 90s may realize how fast this entire nostalgia thing came. Flannels? What will prevail! The 90s.. they are coming back! Sadly everything sucks that EVERYTHING SUCKS was not renewed..

Girls' Black Panther Dora Milaje Halloween Costume - image 1 of 1

4. A warrior of Wakanda: Black Panther was potentially one of the best movies of the year.. And Wakanda is one of the best costumes.

5. A flamingo: It just does not make sense to me.

6. Edna Mode: She will make her way to your doorstep this Halloween...

7. An ABBA-inspired dancing queen: Take a chance on this. Costumes from the 70s that will make you dance on your doorstep.

Image result for cosmic fairy halloween costume

8. A cosmic fairy.. no comment.

9. Frida Kahlo: Thanks Beyonce.

10. A cow: Think of it. You'll drop your hiccups.

The recent Mars dust storm went global!

NASA is reporting about how the dust storm that started small went global on the red planet:

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provided the earliest insights on May 30 when it observed an accumulation of dust in the atmosphere near Perseverance Valley, where NASA’s Opportunity rover is exploring. The increasingly hazy storm, the biggest since 2007, forced Opportunity to shut down science operations by June 8, given that sunlight couldn’t penetrate the dust to power the rover’s solar panels. Scientists are anxiously waiting for the roving explorer to regain power and phone home.

Meanwhile, on June 5, evidence quietly materialized on the other side of the globe that the storm was growing and beginning to affect Gale Crater, the research site of NASA’s Curiosity rover. (The storm was officially classified as global on June 20.)
It came from an unexpected source: an actuator, or motor, that powers a lid to a funnel that takes in samples of powdered Martian rock dropped in by Curiosity’s drill. The samples then undergo chemical analysis by the portable Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) chemistry lab, designed by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and built into Curiosity’s belly

Benito Prats, a Goddard electromechanical engineer, noticed the dust storm slowly reaching Curiosity through the continuous temperature readings he collected from actuator sensors

animation showing two views of Mars, one dark, one dusty

Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong says social media is the cancer of our time!

Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong wants the change the way people consume news on social media.. he called the platforms the "cancer of our time."

"The short attention span we're creating in this millennium is actually very dangerous," said Soon-Shiong, the new owner of the Los Angeles Times. "It's the unintended consequences of social media."

He told "Squawk Alley" that "I say it's the cancer of our time and social media is a form of metastasis of news. We need to change that."

He described Facebook as a "advertising facing" organization, and therefore people cannot differentiate from "fake news," "real news" or "opinion news."

...there may be a financial gain to him if people stop consuming their news on social media.. but does he have a point?

Recall the old wild west days of the NET ... when REAL news and FAKE NEWS collided in a beautiful storm of controversy.. now everything seems fake. Everything seems, just..unreal.

And one final thing is for sure ... social media has caused news orgs to change the way they write headlines.. to change the way journalism is done. For the most part--it's been awful. It watered down what matters and obscured what really happened.

So ....The billionaire has a point.

but ... will any amount of money or opinion from a man who has it change anything...?

Happy Death day gets date

Universal Pictures has set a February 14th 2019 wide release date for the upcoming sequel “Happy Death Day 2U,” a follow-up to the 2017 horror hit from Blumhouse Pictures.

The movie was a surprise success earning more than $100 mil for a movie that cost less than ten to make..

We will see if the sequel has the same magic..

NEWS ROUNDUP: WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 26 2018

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER on why Halloween would NOT do well with today's critics.. MORE.. In 2018, revisiting Halloween means revisiting the Kael quote, especially the keyword of "sophistication." We're living through a so-called golden age of horror cinema, a genre renaissance, if you like; put in franker language, horror today gets taken more seriously by studios, by the press, by institutions like AMPAS and by audiences, than it did as far back as decades and as recently as years...

Review: 'Halloween' Is Just Another Mediocre Michael Myers Movie

'Halloween' at 40: Jamie Lee Curtis' history of horrors

Most searched Halloween makeup ideas for 2018..

Step aside, sexy nurses and nuns, cutesy kittens and mice, scary zombies and ghouls. This year’s most-searched Halloween costumes are a departure from the backward or the basic. Instead, topping the list are feminist icons, Wakandan warriors, and a legendary athlete. There’s even a tropical bird.

From Tonya Harding to a cow: the top ten Halloween costumes in 2018..

Jane Fonda regrets her famed ‘Hanoi Jane’ photo

USA Today reports that in a new HBO documentary titled, Jane Fonda in Five Acts, Fonda reflected on the “infamous photo that showed her sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun.”

Fonda tells HBO that the photo “was a betrayal.”

“I will go to my grave regretting that.”

“We were bombing, and it wasn’t being talked about. And I thought, ‘I’m a celebrity. Maybe if I go, and I bring back evidence’ And it did stop two months after I got back, so I’m proud that I went. It changed my life all for the good,”

“The thing that I regret is that on my last day there, I made the mistake of going to a ceremony at an anti-aircraft gun. It wasn’t being used. There were no airplanes or anything like that. There was a ceremony. I was asked to sing and people were laughing and so forth and I was led, and I sat down. And then I got up and as I walked away, I realized, ‘Oh my gosh. It’s going to look like I am against my own country’s soldiers and siding with the enemy,’ which is the last thing in the world that was true.”

BATMAN ARTIST BREYFOGLE DEAD AT 58

58-year-old Batman artist Norm Breyfogle passed from this earthly existence Monday ...

Breyfogle was an industry legend through and through, making up– along with Alan Grant– one half of one of the best Batman creative teams of all time. His work was moody and mysterious while still having an undeniable energy. Truly a perfect fit for the Dark Knight.

Funeral arrangements for Breyfogle will be announced by the Erickson Crowley Peterson Funeral Home. The cause of his death has not yet been shared publicly.

Breyfogle is best known for his epic run on the Batman comic books from 1987 to 1995. Breyfogle worked with Alan Grant on Detective Comics and introduced villains the Ventriloquist in their first Batman story and the Ratcacther in their third.

Breyfogle drew Batman for six years (1987-1993), penciling Detective Comics from 1987-1990, then moving to the standalone Batman comic to introduce Tim Drake, the third Robin post Jason Todd, from 1990-1992, and finally starting a new Batman series for DC titled “Batman: Shadow of the Bat” from 1992-1993 which saw the Grant/Breyfogle team create three new characters, Jeremiah Arkham, Mr. Zsasz, and Amygdala.

VENOM 2 will shoot for an R

The trailers for VENOM look creepy. Frightening... over the top in violence and minimal in colorful laugh..

But it only got a PG-13 despite promises from industry insiders that it would get an R rating..

While the movie tried it didn’t make it .

Maybe the sequel or series will I movie makers lists every to the advice of Star Tom Hardy..

In a chat with MTV International this week, Venom star Tom Hardy said this:

“It’s a PG-13 in the States. But to be fair, the thing can fulcrum into R-Rated,” Hardy told the outlet. “My littlest ones, they watch Spider-Man and Venom quite comfortably and Venom toys appear and LEGO appear in my nostril in the morning, you know what I mean? So it’s not like they’re scared by him. And at the same time there’s a lot within the real estate that you can actually imbue with a complete sense of gratuitous ultra-violence if you really wanted to, and I think you’ve got the right people for that job if you want to push it. That’s where I’d love to go with it.”

Next time.

Odd DirecTV warning broadcast in multiple states

There was a strange occurrence broadcast through DirecTV in multiple states on Tuesday..

YouTube and Twitter persaonility REIGNBOT also Tweeted about the event, causing a number of respondents to state they also witnessed the strange transmission..

You can view and listen to a snippet of the video captured on this Twitter handle:

https://twitter.com/sistermrymoltar/status/1044666641496379397?s=21

According to the reports, it was a warning screen with odd staticky voices being heard mumbling in the background..

From the information being posted online, the event seems to have been captured on television sets in Florida, Texas, Los Angeles California, and Cincinnati Ohio..

MAKING A MURDERER 2 gets October 19 premiere date

Making a Murderer’s “Part 2,” another ten episodes, has been assigned a premier date on Netflix. The show is about a convicted murderer named Steven Avery, along with his co-defendant and nephew Brendan Dassey...

According to Deadline, this second installation “provides an in-depth look at the high-stakes post-conviction process, exploring the emotional toll the process takes on all involved.”

Shock death of Paul Vasquez at 48!

“Sons of Anarchy” actor Paul John Vasquez has died. He was 48.

In a statement to Fox News, Vasquez’s rep said: “This news has come as a surprise to us. Our hearts are heavy. He was a kind, creative and loving man. He will be missed.”

TMZ, citing sources, said Vasquez died Monday evening from what appeared to have been a heart attack while at his father’s house in San Jose, California.

Box office opiners ponder on how much Halloween will make

This is the latest thought from insiders: The new John Carpenter revamp remake reimagining will make somewhere between $50-$85 million opening weekend.

That will be considered strong if it occurs ...

The movie cost about $10 mil to make..

But what may also matter is staying power. The movie premieres only days before the actual Halloween on calendars so the film may not be relative beyond its initial week..

And while some positive word of mouth and excitement have been generated by creative trailers, if the movie is just plain bad it could drop handily in dollars by Sunday opening weekend..

Developing..

Six more GOOSEBUMPS books are on the way!

Darryn King on Medium got the scoop:

“I don’t think authors retire,” Stine told King, when he was asked about his prolific career potentially coming to an end at some point. “I think of Robert B. Parker, who just dropped dead on the keyboard. I think that’s the way to go. Anyway, I just signed on to do six more Goosebumps books.”

Stine joked, “Maybe some of them will be posthumous, I don’t know.”

In the meantime, big screen sequel Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween arrives in theaters on October 12. As we learned this week, Jack Black will be reprising the role of R.L. Stine..

Do you love that Joker? Todd Phillips reveals Phoenix as the sad clown..

Instead of letting the paparazzi ruin the prize, Todd Phillips is going to fight back with his own images...

This is the new JOKER...

Director of the upcoming Joker film Todd Phillips has posted another shot of Joaquin Phoenix in makeup on Instagram, though this time he is decidedly in a full clown costume.

The Instagram post is simply paired with the caption “Work” suggesting that this is Phoenix playing Arthur Fleck, the Joker prior to making his full transition into the Clown Prince of Crime. It appears that this version of the Joker worked as a literal clown, perhaps providing entertainment to audiences before being completely "disregarded by society."

What maybe is the most interesting is that Phillips chose to show this image instead of the now famous image of Phoenix behind the scenes on the subway.

For those who say wrestling is not real, ask Liv Morgan

For those who say wrestling is not real, this is one of the reminders that the accidents that can occur on the sports ''entertainment'' is very dangerous.. and very real indeed.

WWE star Liv Morgan was knocked out live on TV Monday night after being kicked in the head twice by Brie Bella.

The 24-year-old suffered a suspected concussion in the terrifying accident on “Monday Night Raw” in Denver. She was competing with the Riott Squad against the Bella Twins and Natalya when the shocking incident happened.

Morgan was in-ring with Brie when she was “Yes Kicked” twice in the head, sending her crashing to the mat. The ex-NXT ace gallantly kicked out of the move, even though she was clearly injured and needed treatment.

America's dad now a sexually violent predator: Cosby goes to jail

Bill Cosby learned his fate inside a Montgomery County courtroom on Tuesday. The 81-year-old actor and comedian has been sentenced to three to 10 years in state prison for sexually assaulting a former Temple University employee at his home in 2004..

Judge Steven O’Neill handed down a sentence of no less than three years and no more than 10 behind bars.

O’Neill also ruled Cosby as a “sexually violent predator.” The classification means that Cosby must undergo lifetime counseling and report quarterly to authorities. His name will appear on a sex-offender registry sent to neighbors, schools and victims.

Cosby’s lawyer argued for bail after the ruling, but O’Neill pushed back, and said Cosby will not be getting bail.

“I’ve imposed sentencing at this stage,” said O’Neill. “If you want to take it up with another court, you can.”

BIRDS OF PREY gets 2020 release date

February 7 to be exact..

Margot Robbie will reprise her role as Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad in Birds of Prey. This is just one of several spin-offs involving the character that entered development in the wake of Suicide Squad's financial success, despite the fact that it was lambasted by critics. Harley Quinn is one of the most popular characters in the DC..

Cathy Yan will direct..

Birds of Prey will center on a gang of female DC characters who team up to take down a common enemy. Aside from Harley Quinn, the movie will introduce the characters Black Canary and Helena Bertinelli, aka Huntress

The old eye vs the young: The optical illusion issue

The famous optical illusion!! You have surely seen it.

BUT what do you see!? IT depends on how old you are.

Scientific Reports has found that younger people see the younger woman first and older people see the older woman first!

393 participants took part in the study ranging from the ages of 18 to 68, with the average age of those that took part was 32.

All participants only saw the image for half a second and were then asked to guess the gender and the age of the person in the picture.

Most participants saw the younger woman first but that might be because the majority of those that took part were mostly on the younger side of the spectrum.

To get a better sense of the results the researchers separated the youngest 10 per cent and the oldest 10 per cent and the scores remained the same.

The signs of the season: The Bloomsburg Fair!

SOMEHOW, SOMEWAY.. it ended up being the 163rd annual Bloomsburg Fair..

Where did the time go!?

I was at the Fair this weekend, and will most likely travel back to it a few times before its ended...'

While the freakshows are gone (PC!?) and other things have moved or changed, the fair is somehwat mostly the same...

I drew this image in 1996 of the Bloomsburg Fair when I came home one Friday night... and today, the image could still be the same.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Bryan Smolock (@coalspeaker) on Jan 2, 2018 at 6:51pm PST

I was able to snatch this amazing photograph of a stuffed animal on a ride that hovers in the air above fair goers..

And that, my friends, is what you can find at the fair that confounds the senses and compromises the mind.

Take part in it. It's only once a year and will be done quite soon. Enjoy.

Loving that Joker

The former DC Entertainment president Diane Nelson shared the following tweet following the public’s first look at Phoenix in his Joker make-up:

“LOVE IT! Great story, great actor, specific and string vision from talented director,” said Nelson said on her verified Twitter account.

“What DC should have been doing since Nolan. Even if die hard fans struggle with his vision. Good movies are good movies.”

Car caught in tornado!

The video speaks for itself.. sheiks of horror from a car owner who has her vehicle suddenly caught within the confines of a tornado!

This driver in Gatineau, Quebec was lucky to escape with just minor injuries to her face after a tornado shattered her car windows and shot debris inside on Sept. 21.

Who's that Joker!? The paparazzi are on the trail

The JOKER film starring Joaquin Phoenix has been a mystery.. only a few tidbits have been revealed and recently this past weekend showcased a short 30 second trailer of Phoenix slowly transforming his face into the clown prince of crime..

But the paparazzi are on the trail..

This past weekend TMZ featured this blazing article on its wesite: Joaquin Phoenix keeps giving us a little more as The Joker -- this time he's in full costume as The Jester of Genocide ... and he's all smiles about it.

Joker—which also stars Zazie Beetz, Marc Maron, Glenn Fleshler, and Brett Cullen— is set to hit theaters on October 4, 2019..

TODD PHILLIPS is looking to battle paparazzi over leaked JOKER photos: While shooting in New York City, footage and photos of Phoenix in attire with the classic Joker color palette leaked on the internet and Phillips retaliated by releasing his own photos.

Commenters started to complain that Phillips was releasing too many photos and information about the movie to which he responded: “Here’s the issue. We have paparazzi all over our set, at every turn. And it bums me out that they constantly put out their bad shots. So I figure, may as well put out some good ones.” MORE..

The Phoenix incarnation has a delightfully playful look .. behind the smile is a ruthless criminal who, by any measure, will bring scares and most likely a near R rated or R rated film next Halloween '19 .. His presence seems to have a bit of the Bill Murray appearance as the HORROR REPORT pointed out this past weekend.. But also, the newest leaked footage began to remind us of the Heath Ledger version coupled with the face and hair of the 1960s Romero.. We will all be glued to our seats as we watch where this ride takes us..

It will be wild.

With paparazzi hiding behind every piece of brick and mortar where filming is taking place, there is no doubt Todd Phillips will remain unhappy as he wishes to keep this all very much secret until next year..

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That's a wrap: Sunday news roundup for the first weekend of fall

Michael Moore falls flat with dismal box office opening for Fahrenheit 11/9.. Eli Roth’s adaptation of the popular children’s book picked up a better-than-expected $26.8 million when it opened in 3,592 locations. The fantasy film, starring Jack Black and Cate Blanchett, didn’t face much competition. A number of holdovers filled out the top five as a trio of new releases came in way under expectations...

But don't count Trump satire out yet: The Briarcliff Entertainment political documentary landed in eighth place, coming in way under estimates with $3.1 million from 1,719 venues. Launching the film in over a thousand theaters might have hurt its box office potential. Most specialized films start small in a select amount of theaters before slowly expanding nationwide as word of mouth builds..

Paul Simon returns to the sounds of silence.. MORE: Paul Simon ended his final concert tour under a moonlit sky on home turf Saturday, telling an audience in a park in Queens, N.Y., that their cheers "mean more than you can know." Simon performed at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, which he said was a 20-minute bicycle ride from where he grew up, ending the landmark night with his first big hit, "The Sound of Silence."

Reactions to Netflix's MANIAC..

America's got Talent contestant arrested: One day after talent standout Michael Ketterer came in fifth place in the singing competition’s finale, the singer was taken into custody..

STRANGER THINGS on Halloween: Universal Studios Orlando's 2018 fright fest features 80s thrills and chills, including "Stranger Things," "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" and "Poltergeist"

Behind the scene footage of Joaquin Phoenix in JOKER flick revealed..

TODD PHILLIPS is looking to battle paparazzi over leaked JOKER photos: While shooting in New York City, footage and photos of Phoenix in attire with the classic Joker color palette leaked on the internet and Phillips retaliated by releasing his own photos. Commenters started to complain that Phillips was releasing too many photos and information about the movie to which he responded: “Here’s the issue. We have paparazzi all over our set, at every turn. And it bums me out that they constantly put out their bad shots. So I figure, may as well put out some good ones.” MORE..

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PC HALLOWEEN: Handmaid's Tale costume sparks outrage online.. retailer pulls the outfit..

This past weekend TMZ featured this blazing article on its wesite: Joaquin Phoenix keeps giving us a little more as The Joker -- this time he's in full costume as The Jester of Genocide ... and he's all smiles about it.

HISTORY