Horror filmmakers love a good gimmick. At their best, gimmicks allow directors do something interesting with the story and characters, creating inventive and scary situations. Films such as Candyman, The Ring, and A Nightmare on Elm Street all have simple but highly effective gimmicks–whether it’s saying the name of a ghostly killer, watching a cursed videotape, or simply falling asleep. They work brilliantly and have made the movies much-loved classics of the genre.
But a bad gimmick can destroy any chance a horror movie has of being scary or compelling. If an entire film is structured around a single novelty concept, then there’s no saving it if it doesn’t work. Often it’s not the gimmick itself, but how well the directors have executed it. Many horror films share the same idea, but how effectively they have been realized can make the difference between a good movie and a terrible one.
We’ve rounded up some of the worst gimmicks to feature in horror movies. Some of these were absolutely terrible ideas to start with, and some might have worked if it wasn’t for everything else in the movie. And some gimmicks work at first, but quickly become repetitive and reveal how few other ideas the movie has.
You can sample Marvel’s Avengers for free later this month on PC, Stadia, and PlayStation, Square Enix has announced. The game will have a free play weekend from July 29 through August 1 to coincide with the permanent launch of the multiple-hero feature that lets you assemble a squad full of Hulks or whatever. Developer Crystal Dynamics has also teased that the weekend will have perks for returning players too, like quadruple XP.
During the all access period you’ll be able to download it from the digital store. If you decide to buy it permanently, you’ll keep any progress and purchases on the same platform you sampled. You’ll have access to the entire Avengers campaign, as well as the Kate Bishop and Hawkeye operations. Square Enix noted that a similar weekend is coming for Xbox platforms “in the coming months.”
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Marvel’s Avengers All Access Weekend
PlayStation: July 29 12 PM ET / 9 AM PT – August 1 12 PM ET / 9 AM PT
Steam: July 29 12 PM ET / 9 AM PT – August 1 12 PM ET / 9 AM PT
Stadia: July 29 11 AM ET / 8 AM PT – August 1 11 AM ET / 8 AM PT
A post on the Avengers blog notes that current and returning players will get 4X XP and more, so that will be a good time to grind up any heroes you haven’t maxed out or to catch up with the dual Hawkeyes storyline if you missed it before. This is all coming just ahead of the release of War for Wakanda, which will add new story content and Black Panther as a playable hero in August.
“There’s never been a better time to assemble in Marvel’s Avengers. We’re nearing our one-year anniversary, and players who jump in will get eight heroes, tons of single- and multi-player content, ongoing events, and more,” said Crystal Dynamics studio co-head Scot Amos, in the announcement. “In addition, we have the War for Wakanda expansion coming in August, so now is a great opportunity to get started so you’re ready to play as Black Panther and take on Klaw with the rest of the Avengers.”
Avengers is currently discounted down to $24 in the PlayStation Summer Sale, down to $24. That sale lasts through August 4.
Hollywood screenwriter David Goyer has shared a story about one of the worst notes he received from a studio executive for one of his movies. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Goyer said he received a bewildering note from the studio for the Superman movie Man of Steel.
The studio told Goyer he needed to change the ending to Man of Steel and make it so the pod that Superman uses to help save the day doesn’t get destroyed. The studio executives said this had to change because, if the pod was destroyed, how would Superman return to Krypton? The only thing is… Krypton was already destroyed.
“One note I got was on Man of Steel, where the ending involves Superman utilizing the pod that he arrived in as a child in order to bring down General Zod’s ship,” Goyer said. “The note we got from the studio said, ‘You have to change that.’ We asked why. They said, ‘Because if Superman uses that pod and it’s destroyed while saving the city, how is he ever going to get back home to Krypton?’ There was just this long pause and we said, ‘Krypton blew up. You saw 30 minutes of it!'”
On the other side of the coin, Goyer said one of the best notes he’s received from a higher-up at a studio came from Apple TV+ development boss Matt Cherniss for his new sci-fi show Foundation. Goyer and his team were struggling to wrap their heads around the show’s complicated time jumps and other story elements that depart from what might considered traditional. Cherniss’ note was simple. He said, “F**k it, just lean into it,” Goyer recalls.
“So we broke with traditional story structures in various ways. The structure changes from episode to episode. Most of the time, studio executives say, ‘How do you make it more normal? How do you make it fall in line with what the audience would expect?’ He encouraged me to not do that, which was unusual,” Goyer said.
Goyer is also known for his story work on The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. More recently, he produced the Chris Pratt movie The Tomorrow War, while he also worked on the story for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
The newest arrival to the Disney+ streaming service, Behind the Attraction, looks at the complicated and long history of creating Disney’s most iconic rides and experiences at its theme parks around the world. From creator Brian Volk-Weiss (The Toys That Made Us), the series strikes a familiarly snarky tone as it tackles some of the most beloved rides Disney has ever come up with. Still, there are some episodes that may have you scratching your head–and there’s a reason for that.
While the first batch of episodes from Season 1 of Behind the Attraction dig into the past of rides like Jungle Cruise, the Haunted Mansion, and Star Tours, there are some curious choices made along the way, including the Disneyland hotel and–perhaps most puzzling of all–an episode titled “Trains, Trams, and Monorails,” which is all about the history of transportation around Disney’s parks.
Speaking to GameSpot, Volk-Weiss admitted that particular episode was his personal passion project on the series. “There were three pots,” he explained. “The first pot was there’s got to be attractions that are like, ‘Why wouldn’t that be in Season 1? How could they do this without a Space Mountain episode?’ Then there was another group that was things that you may not [have expected]. I think a lot of people wouldn’t have done Twilight Zone Tower of Terror in Season 1… And then the third one, which was only one episode, is what a British guy called my joker [card]. And that is basically me saying, ‘Please let me make this episode. Please let me make this episode.’ And that was ‘Trains, Trams and Monorails.'”
Given how important trans, trains, and even monorails are to navigating Disney’s parks around the world–and even Walt Disney’s own fascination with trains–dedicating an episode to the systems of transportation seems like a worthwhile endeavor and, when that episode debuts, it should be interesting to see what he uncovers. After all, if it’s anything like the Darth Vader Ballet covered in Behind the Attraction’s Star Tours episode, there’s probably some pretty hilarious history to be revealed.
While gaining permission to include the footage of the Star Wars-themed dance performance was, according to Volk-Weiss, “definitely a longer conversation” with Disney. There’s something else he’s a bit more surprised about that made the final cuts of the episode: his unending adoration of Disney’s failed attempt at a Star Wars movie of its own, 1979’s The Black Hole.
“I love The Black Hole. It’s the first movie I watched when I got Disney+,” he said. “I know there are a couple things that might not allow it to be considered the best movie ever made. There [were] a lot of jokes in the [Star Tours] episode about The Black Hole. And basically, that was also the first episode we ever turned in. What it really worked down to was in the first cut, there was like nine jokes about The Black Hole, we got it down to two jokes about The Black Hole. But the thing that’s funny is the two Black Hole jokes that are still in there. A lot of Disney people that did not work on the show were shocked we were allowed to keep those in.”
So when you watch the Star Tours episode, know that while there were originally many more jokes about The Black Hole, the fact that it includes any at all is surprising.
The first five episodes of Behind the Attraction are streaming on Disney+ now. The next five, which will tackle experiences like It’s a Small World, castles in the parks, the Hall of Presidents, and the tribute to trains, trams, and monorails, will debut on a later date.
As is the case with most villains, Sauron is probably not dead–and scientists have discovered a new underwater volcano resembling the omnipresent Eye of Sauron, indicating he’s always watching and his power is always around.
In a report for The Conversation, Museums Victoria’s senior curator of marine invertebrates Tim O’Hara said the underwater volcano was “revealed by multibean sonar 3,100 meters below” the RV Investigator research vessel. The oval formation, known as a caldera, is approximately 4mi by 3mi across. It has a rim that’s a little over a tenth of a mile high, as well as a tenth of a mile high cone-shaped peak at the center where the actual “pupil” is housed.
In essence, a caldera is a collapsed volcano. The molten magma travels upwards and, because of the empty chambers this creates, the volcano’s dome surface caves in on itself. This causes a large crater where a small peaks often tends to form while the volcano continues to spew hot magma.
O’Hara said the team, which was on day 12 of exploring Australia’s Indian Ocean Territories (southeast of Christmas Island), discovered two other underwater volcanic structures further south from the newly named Eye of Sauron. These have been nicknamed Barad-dûr (the “Dark Fortress,” Sauron’s primary stronghold in Mordor) and Ered Lithui (“Ash Mountains”).
The Karma cluster. (Courtesy of Tim O’Hara, The Conversation.)
All three are part of the Karma cluster of seamounts (or submarine mountain ranges) that geologists estimated to be over 100 million years old. But according to O’Hara, the caldera looks “surprisingly fresh” for a structure that old. The team predicts that underwater volcanoes could remain active, sprouting new calderas long after the original foundation took its shape.
Meanwhile, Ered Lithui is now overrun with seafloor animals like batfish, brittle-stars, barnacles, crabs, cusk-eels. worms, sea-stars, and sponges. Perhaps Sauron has been invaded by SpongeBob SquarePants and his pals.
Australian actress Anna Torv, who starred on Netflix’s Mindhunter, has been cast as Tess in HBO’s upcoming The Last of Us TV show, according to Variety.
Torv is no stranger to the world of video games, as she voiced the main character in 2007’s Heavenly Sword video game, reprising the role in the 2014 animated movie. In The Last of Us the video game, Tess was voiced and performed by Annie Wersching.
Torv joins a cast that includes Pedro Pascal (Joel), Bella Ramsey (Ellie), Gabriel Luna (Tommy), Merle Dandridge (Marlene), and Nico Parker (Sarah).
Marvel’s Loki writers scrapped a montage that would have seen Tom Hiddleston’s God of Mischief travelling to different time periods, collecting infinity stones, and having lots of sex.
Assembled: The Making of Loki, the latest episode in Marvel Studios’ series of docu-specials, premiered on Disney+ on July 21, and offered fans a behind-the-scenes look at the six-episode series centering on the MCU’s principal mischief-maker. The special explored the development process for the series, including one montage that didn’t make it into the show.
Taking a glimpse behind the curtain of Loki’s latest adventure, the hour-long special included a shot of a whiteboard that contained lots of scribblings of plans and ideas the writers had toyed with during pre-production. SlashFilm paused the frame and outlined a sequence in which the show’s titular character would have been seen getting up to some “crazy mischief.”
The eight-point breakdown detailing Loki’s antics reads as follows:
Loki visiting different time periods.
Doing crazy mischief, aka sex.
Pivots to taking power.
Collecting Infinity Stones.
Has the Gauntlet, holds power, more sex, bi, alien, etc.
Alone in the throne room. He’s taken power but is infected with thoughts that it isn’t “real” because of TVA’s control over free will.
Returns to the TVA, gauntlet’s power down, Mobius is waiting for him.
Loki gives honest answers to Mobius. Mobius shows the sheer power of TVA.
The writers ultimately decided against including this in the final cut, but director Kate Herron acknowledged that Loki’s sexuality was one of her top priorities upon joining the project, taking precedence over other story threads. In episode three, Loki was confirmed to be canonically bisexual in the MCU during a pivotal conversation with Sylvie.
It’s the first of Marvel’s Disney+ series to officially announce a second season, with WandaVision unlikely to return, and The Falcon & the Winter Soldier currently billed as an ongoing series. While we don’t know when Loki Season 2 might be released, we should perhaps expect a lot of other Marvel shows to come first.
Hades has won the Game of the Year award at the 2021 Game Developer Choice Awards.
The awards ceremony, which is part of the Game Developers Conference (GDC), honoured Supergiant Games’ Greek myth-inspired roguelike with its top award. Additionally, Hades was also awarded Best Audio and Best Design.
While Hades took the GOTY award, Ghost of Tsushima took home the Audience Award, as well as Best Visual Art award. With two or more awards each, they were the most decorated games of the show.
Other awards were handed to Phasmophobia dev Kinetic Games, Naughty Dog, Valve, and Media Molecule. You can see the full list of awards and winners below.
Best Audio: Hades (Supergiant Games)
Best Debut: Phasmophobia (Kinetic Games)
Best Design: Hades (Supergiant Games)
Best Mobile Game: Genshin Impact (miHoYo)
Innovation Award: Dreams (Media Molecule / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Best Narrative: The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Best Technology: Microsoft Flight Simulator (Asobo Studio / Xbox Game Studios)
Best Visual Art: Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Best VR/AR Game: Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
Audience Award: Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Game of the Year: Hades (Supergiant Games)
Pioneer Award: Tom Fulp (creator of Newgrounds)
Lifetime Achievement Award: Laralyn McWilliams (28 year industry veteran, creative director of MMO Free Realms)
The heat is on, and not just for singer Glenn Frey. It’s also on for streaming service Netflix, which is dropping plenty of new movies, TV shows, and originals for the month of August. This includes the new animated movie The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf and Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild. Check out everything coming to Netflix below, along with some recommendations.
Arriving on August 23 is the latest installment in Netflix’s growing Witcher universe. The animated movie The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf arrives that day. The film follows a young Vesemir as he makes some serious cash hunting down monsters. Of course, that’s not the whole story, as Vesemir has to face demons from his past. Check out the trailer for yourself below.
On August 12, the animated movie Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild arrives. A young hunter named Aiden has to protect his village from being destroyed as it’s in the path of an elder dragon who is rampaging across the world. Aiden teams up with other hunters in order to stop this menace. The 3D animated film feels a bit more geared towards an all-ages audience–as The Witcher movie and show are strictly for adults.
Throughout the rest of the month, there are plenty of movies and TV shows you can check out. On August 1, seven seasons of the hit comedy series 30 Rock arrive, along with classic comedies like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Team America: World Police, and Pineapple Express. If you’re looking for something a bit more serious, The Machinist and Inception both arrive on August 1 as well.
Below, you’ll find the full list for everything coming to Netflix for the month of August, and if you’re looking for more streaming service additions, check out what’s coming to Hulu, Disney+, and Shudder for August.
New on Netflix in August 2021:
August 1
30 Rock: Seasons 1-7
Beethoven
Beethoven 2
Catch Me if you Can
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Five Feet Apart
Friday Night Lights: Seasons 1-5
Inception
Magnolia
Major Payne
My Girl
My Girl 2
Pineapple Express
Poms
Seabiscuit
Team America: World Police
The Edge of Seventeen
The Losers
The Machinist
The New
The Original Kings of Comedy
August 3
Pray Away
Shiny_Flakes: The Teenage Drug Lord
Top Secret UFO Projects: Declassified
August 4
Aftermath
Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami
Control Z: Season 2
Cooking With Paris
August 6
Hit & Run
The Swarm
Vivo
August 9
Shaman King
August 10
Phil Wang: Philly Philly Wang Wang
Untold (New Films Weekly)
August 11
Bake Squad
The Kissing Booth 3
August 12
Lokillo: Nothing’s The Same
Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild
August 13
Beckett
Brand New Cherry Flavor
Fast & Furious Spy Racers: Season 5: South Pacific
