Well, This Seems To Have EVERYTHING!

Stranded after a concert scam, an all-girl heavy metal band and their vampire manager, stumble into a town ruled by a warlock and crawling with cannibals, vampires, sirens, and a monstrous werewolf.

When they encounter a pregnant woman in danger, a search for help turns into a night of supernatural chaos, ranging from Minotaur-run betting rings to brutal creature confrontations.

The band must unleash hidden powers to stay alive, blending heavy metal, dark humour, and creatures into a blood-soaked, chaotic survival ride.

Devour will be available, on demand, from October 13.

IT'S HOWARD THE DUCK DAY!!!

Courtesy of the invaluable CineCalendar via BlueSky

Pitfall (2025)

A dysfunctional groups of friends go hiking in isolated, mountainous woodland and find themselves being hunted by a mysterious psychopath.

And that's about it, plot-wise, for Pitfall.

The Hunter (Randy Couture) has no apparent motive or technique for this cruel and murderous behaviour, which really should have been rule number one for writer Victor Rose and director James Kondelik. Even Michael Myers - the least interesting and most overhyped slasher in cinema history - has a clear motive and backstory.

Meanwhile, our protagonists are a generally unlikable quintet of barely two-dimensional walking clichés making a series of dumb decisions that leads to a number of them dying horribly and some surviving more by luck than judgement.

Scott (Marshall Williams) and Ashley (Alexandra Essoe) are estranged brother and sister, having fallen out over a car crash that led to the death of their parents, in which Scott chose to rescue Ashley instead of their mum.

The siblings have brought their partners with them - Gwen (Jordan Claire Robbins) and Charlie (Matt Hamilton), who presents himself a bit of an outdoorsman.

Also along for the fun and frolics in Scott's old friend Lars (Richard Harmon), who starts off as a bit of a dick, but actually develops into the closest this film has to a decent character.

After probably hours of driving, they get to the parking area in the forest, disembark and then have all the 'getting to know you' conversations that real people would have had on the journey there.

This was an immediate red flag to Paul and I, watching the DVD as one of our 'film night' specials, that this film was not going to go well.

In fact, as it went on we were constructing our own story, with twists and tricks we thought the filmmakers might be using to make Pitfall something special. But it turned out we were giving it way too much credit.

The first evening our 'heroes' are camping, Scott and Charlie go off to catch some fish or something, but then get distracted - and a bit lost - on the way back to camp and end up getting chased by hungry wolves (did anyone research this area before deciding to go camping there?)

I have to point out here, the wolf chase was hilarious as there was clearly no way these blokes were going to outrun the wolves - at one point a wolf is about two or three feet behind one of the runners and logically it should have all come to a grisly end moments later.

But this bizarre temporal logic was nothing compared to the central flashback scene of the death of the siblings' parents, which for inexplicable reasons played out like a gag from a Naked Gun movie. 

In thick fog, their car had crashed on a country road after a deer sprang out of the woodland and smashed through the windscreen. 

Scott managed to free himself, but noticed a truck barrelling down on them. Remember the thick fog? The lorry must have been close enough for Scott to see it, yet he still has time to try and free his sister (who is, apparently, blinded by shock and can't operate the seatbelt), then try and rescue his mum, who is stuck because of the caved in passenger-side door.

His mum then has time to deliver a really lengthy monologue on why he should rescue his sister. Then he goes to do just that. And throughout all this, the camera keeps cutting back to the lorry driving hell for leather towards them (and yet, seemingly, not actually getting any closer).

But I digress - back to the slow-wolves: Scott gets separated from Charlie and falls down a classic Dungeons & Dragons ten foot pit, with punji stakes at the bottom. One of which impales Scott's leg, trapping him there.

Now, jumping sideways to The Hunter's motivation again: these pits - and there are several scattered around the forest, as Lars had nearly fallen in one earlier - must have taken a hell of an effort to dig out on his own (and dispose of 10 cubic foot of soil each time).

Overthinking this - and at one stage Paul and I, thanks to the often perplexing direction, felt that The Hunter was in two places at once - we were convinced that there were two Hunters.

Meanwhile, as all this is going on, there are a couple of other random hottie hikers being chased by The Hunter. This pair eventually come into contact with our heroes only to be reduced to characterless meatsacks for The Hunter to squish to keep the film's protagonists alive, while still upping the gore quotient. 

I think Scott stuck in the pit is supposed to be a central part of the movie, but because he can't just talk to himself when the focus shifts back to him, he has to start hallucinating and that's when the film gets even more ridiculous.

Beyond the killer's motivation - or seemingly lack thereof - there's so much in Pitfall that just doesn't work. It seems that days are passing, from the glimpses of daylight between the "more atmospheric" nights, but there's no real sense of the passage of time.  

There are moments including a secondary character (a small girl, who is actually a boy) that may be a decade or so earlier. Only by later looking at the captions under the pictures in the IMDB listing for the Pitfall did I realise that he was a boy (Chance Orion Wood) and had grown up to be the bearded Hunter.

Although, we had suspected this, it wasn't clear at all in the material we were presented with onscreen. Especially as we'd both just taken the child to be a young girl.

Given the frequent shots, early on, that obscure the face of The Hunter, one of the twists that Paul and I had - incorrectly - predicted was that the Hunter was, in fact, a woman (the "girl" all grown up). 

Although, Pitfall opens in media res with a woman and her child being forced into a punji trap by a her husband, a hunter, in the woods, it's never explained what's actually going on with the young kid and why they turn into the character who stalks random people in the forest for years.

For what it's worth, both Paul and I have degrees in Scriptwriting for Film & TV and had we been analysing Pitfall back in the day, as part of the course, I reckon we could have each written books on what's wrong - or isn't adequately explained - in this movie.

Often unintentionally funny, confusingly directed, and with generic protagonists and antagonist, there's ultimately little to recommend Pitfall except for its suitability as some kind of drinking game.

Chop First, Axe Questions Later

In an homage to SEGA’s iconic 1989 video game, Golden Axe follows legendary warriors Ax Battler, Tyris Flare and Gilius Thunderhead as they reunite to save Yuria from the evil giant Death Adder, who just won’t seem to stay dead.

Their quest is complicated by Hampton Squib, an inexperienced and wildly underprepared adventurer whose dream of heroism far exceeds his abilities. Forced to work together despite their flaws, they must find a way to stop Death Adder once and for all.

Never heard of this supposedly "iconic" video game, but the trailer gives the impression that this might be quite good. It has a definite "played Dungeons & Dragons" vibe about it.

Golden Axe premieres September 16 on Paramount+

Knights Of Badassdom (2013)

Knights Of Badassdom exists in a mystical confluence, equal parts Monty Python & The Holy Grail, Animal House, Galaxy Quest and Evil Dead but never quite rises to the brilliance of its forebears.

Having just been dumped by his girlfriend, wannabe doom metal singer Joe (True Blood's Ryan Kwanten) is 'kidnapped' by his two best friends - hardcore LARPers Eric (Steve Zahn) and Hung (Game Of Thrones' Peter Dinklage) - to the site of their next big event, The Battle Of Evermore.

Joe is reluctantly talked into joining the Live Action Role Playing game - helped by the presence of the lovely Gwen (Firefly's Summer Glau) - but, unfortunately, in his quest for authenticity Eric has purchased a magical tome off eBay that turns out to be a long lost book belonging to the famous Elizabethan sorcerer John Dee.

When Eric reads a page at random as a mock spell, he unknowingly summons a succubus from Hell that proceeds to feed on the souls of the LARPers.

Soon after that Joe and Gwen realise that people are dying for real and take up arms to strike back at the monstrous demon and try to save their friends.

Knights Of Badassdom starts very promisingly, with plenty of loving nods to both LARPing and Dungeons & Dragons (this certainly isn't a piss-take of geekdom), but once the horror aspect enters the mix, the film doesn't really know where to go.

Now, I'm pretty certain that I read a ways back that this release of the film was not the director's vision of the story but a cut put together by the producers. This might explain the feeling that after a while the story is just spinning its wheels.

What starts off as belly-laughing funny (very much in the style of The Big Bang Theory, but with more swearing) that had me thinking this might one day equal The Holy Grail as geeks' go-to game quote movie eventually lapses into mildly amusing, by-the-numbers fare.

There are plot holes a-plenty and a lot of undeveloped characters (for instance, what was the deal with the redneck paintballers and their major hate-on for the LARPers? Outside of explaining why the police didn't turn up at the camp site when the slaughter began, they were totally redundant to the plot), which again suggests to me a retrospective recutting of the film, for whatever reason, making do with what footage was on-hand.

Don't get me wrong, it's good and certainly clever in parts, but there's an inescapable feeling that it could have been much better. There are some great characters, and great "in-story" world-building by the LARPers, but it all degenerates into a big slugfest with a rubber-suit monster.

Depending on your mood - and your attitude to random absurdity in movies - the climax of Knights Of Badassdom will either have you smirking at its ridiculousness or reaching for the remote control to turn off the television.

It's such a shame because I genuinely believe this could have been - if done right - a cult classic. As it is, I fear it will simply be swept under the carpet as a missed opportunity and promptly forgotten about.

Of course, the film's biggest mistake: not enough Dinklage.

The Gamers - Dorkness Rising (2008)

On the whole, gamers are an intelligent bunch and we recognise that what we do can appear - to an outsider - a bit dorky.

However, with that awareness comes a wicked sense of humour and a finely honed knack of self-deprecation that has spawned such 'cinematic' classics as Fear Of Girls and The Gamers and comics like The Knights Of The Dinner Table and Dork Tower.

The Gamers: Dorkness Rising continues that noble tradition, as a sequel to The Gamers (although only one character from the original appears in this, and then not for long), following the lives of a group of tabletop role-players - both inside and outside of a 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign being run by aspiring author Kevin Lodge (Nathan Price).

Imagine an early Kevin Smith movie, but without the graphic sexual references and foul language, and you'll have a pretty decent idea of the level of geekiness in Dorkness Rising.

You don't have to be a gamer to enjoy this film, but if you're not into the role-playing scene then some of the material will pass you by and if you're not a geek at all I can't imagine you'd be watching this film in the first place.

Made with the support of some of the big names in the industry (Wizards of The Coast, Goodman Games etc), there are plenty of Easter Eggs and in-jokes for those on the same wavelength as the filmmakers (Dead Gentleman Productions) - there are nods to The Knights Of The Dinner Table and the party's oft-forgotten henchman is none other than Nodwick from the strip of the same name by Aaron Williams.

Outside of the game world, Lodge is struggling against writer's block trying to convert the adventure he is running into a published module for Dungeons & Dragons, while dealing with rebellious players and an odd unresolved romantic sub-plot with the group's newest addition - Joanna (Carol Roscoe).

However, most of the humour comes from what happens in the game world. Using the same visual trick as used in The Gamers of showing the adventurers as the player's "in costume" in Lodge's fantasy world, things naturally go awry and that's when the real fun starts.

For instance, when the characters aren't seducing every female non-player character they come across or blowing up random peasants, one (the bard) is repeatedly killed because his player can't really get to grips with not playing a fighter while another (the sorceress) is being played by a dude who keeps forgetting he's playing a woman and hitting on Joanna's female fighter.

When Gary (Christian Doyle) remembers his character - Luster - is female she is portrayed by his maths professor (Jennifer Page), but the rest of the time, she's Gary in drag!

Written and directed by Matt Vancil, who was also responsible for The Gamers and Demon Hunters, Dorkness Rising may not be a laugh-a-minute, but with its higher production values and more assured acting it is leagues above The Gamers (the original left me rather non-plussed, with its surreal ending smacking of a film that had run out of ideas) and is a pretty accurate representation of gamer stereotypes.

Vancil has created an interesting group of characters here and, unlike the original, I'd be keen to spend some more time with them in future offerings.

The Gamers: Dorkness Rising is a worthy addition to any gaming group's library.

Ten Gonzo Kung Fu Movies

"From magical peaches and giant monsters to black magic, exploding bodies, and Bruce Lee in Hell, these are some of the most unhinged kung fu movies ever made. If you thought all martial arts films were the same, think again."

An eye-opening list from the Sirbootis Flicks channel.

Prisoners Of The Lost Universe (1983)

Three years after creating the most Dungeons & Dragons film of all time (Hawk The Slayer) Terry Marcel and Harry Robertson reunited to try and recapture that 'lightning in a bottle' magic with Prisoners Of The Lost Universe.

The chances are your impression of their success can be gauged against how well you feel George Lucas recaptured the magic of the original Star Wars trilogy in the Ewok movies.

Even bringing back Peter O'Farrell and Ray Charleson in essentially the same roles as they had in Hawk, a roguish dwarf and a gifted elfin creature, doesn't really help.

TV presenter Carrie Madison (Kay Lenz, best known as Thursday from the classic western The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday) and handyman Dan (Richard Hatch aka Captain Apollo from the original Battlestar Galactica) find themselves shunted from our world to the primitive parallel world of Vonya. There the warlord, Kleel (a slumming-it John Saxon) is using his stash of Earth weaponry to maintain a brutal grip on the nomadic locals.

Kleel takes a shine to Carrie (because of her blonde hair and feisty nature) and it's up to Dan and the adventuring party he soon gathers (an elf, a dwarf, and a giant... sound familiar?) to rescue her.

As with Hawk, there's a strong whiff of Dungeons & Dragons in Prisoners Of The Lost Universe, with its abundance of random encounters.

But the cheesy monsters our heroes cross swords with are more reminiscent of the Italian low-budget sword-and-sandals fare such as the Hercules movies, Conquest etc that were being made around the same time.

Unfortunately for gamers - and neutral observers - all the humanoid monsters met are simply interchangeable, disposable goons in different costumes with no discernible differences in their abilities beyond their different outfits (be they midgets with glowing eyes, subterranean cloaked critters, or the Jason Voorhees-like waterbeast).

If Hawk The Slayer was Marcel and Robertson's Robert E Howard, then Prisoners Of The Lost Universe is their Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Despite the '80s opening on Earth and the presence of firearms, the sci-fi vibe that's suggested by the film's advertising (see poster/DVD cover above) is largely trampled by the fantasy elements, giving the film a micro-budget sword-and-planet John Carter of Mars flavour more than anything else.

Although Dan The Handyman is no John Carter!

On top of clunky dialogue and bargain basement effects, there's also a quite heavy-handed attempt to force humour into the mix by injecting some odd, comedy sound effects, which are totally cringe-worthy.

Trying too hard to lean into "camp charm", when such elements should be allowed to blossom naturally, it doesn't take long to realise why Prisoners Of The Lost Universe never gained the cult following that their earlier work did.

Hundra (1983)

A strange Spanish-American barbarian movie from the '80s, Hundra is surprisingly more interesting and entertaining than it should be.

A bizarre mix of feminist commentary, Carry On humour and Emmanuelle sauciness with strong overtones of a Gorean obsession with submissive women, the film actually has some pretty decent - and long - action sequences.

Hundra (Laurene Landon) survives a brutal raid on her all-female village and, after single-handedly killing the dozen or so raiders (in an incredible, prolonged fight), is charged by the village elder (a waffling, decrepit old crone who also provides the amusing and overly serious narration) to seek out a man she can use to repopulate the tribe.

Man-hating Hundra makes some poor choices along the way - including a foul, belching, farting slaver that she ends up fighting rather than mating with in an utterly bizarre, and almost silent, scene (the slaver never says a single word during his whole time on screen).

Laurene Landon

Of course that bizarreness falls short compared to an earlier scene of Hundra being unseated from her horse by a dwarf on a donkey - who is possibly only in the movie for politically incorrect humour reasons!

Eventually Hundra arrives at a nameless city (the entire world is one of those generic, sub-Conan, dusty environments where places and tribes have no names - because that would have been too much effort for the writers) where she falls in love with the local healer, Pateray (Ramiro Oliveros) - using the best opening/chat-up line ever: "You will mate with me and make a baby" - then gets mixed up with shenanigans at the local Temple Of The Bull (a knocking shop and baby factory for local warlords).

By no means a great movie, Hundra orbits around mediocre but is saved from total oblivion by its well-choreographed (and often slo-mo) fight scenes, the coquettish charms of Ms. Landon and its humour (some deliberate, some accidental).

The movie also features a strong score by Ennio Morricone that swings from epic grandeur to Benny Hill zaniness in its scope.

MUSICAL MONDAY: Drank Too Much (Flo & Joan)

Rachel's favourite Flo & Joan tune.

President Curtis: Where Are You?

Your Highness (2011)

In the little publicity over here at the time of its cinematic release much play was made of Your Highness - and even later in the marketing of the DVD - being a "stoner comedy", with much of the humour seemingly derived from pot-related jokes and situations.

But that is so not the case. Your Highness is a brilliant, well-observed, swords-and-sorcery film that happens to also be hilariously, tears-down-the-cheek, laugh-out-loud funny, obscenely lewd and crude (although with very little actual nudity), quite gross at times with moments of graphic violence and only about two or three scenes involving weed.

James Franco is Fabious, heroic favoured son of King Tallious (Charles Dance) who returns home from his latest quest, having rescued a beautiful maiden - the naïve Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel) from the tower of the evil sorcerer Leezar (Justin Theroux).

Unfortunately, on the day of Fabious and Belladonna's wedding, Leezar crashes the festivities and kidnaps the bride-to-be - thus prompting Fabious to embark on another quest.

However, the King insists that Fabious is joined by his foul-mouthed, feckless and irreverent brother Thadeous (Danny McBride) to "make a man of him".

After an unfortunate, early betrayal, the brothers  - and Thadeous's page Courtney (Rasmus Hardiker) - team up with lethal, no-nonsense warrior Isabel (Natalie Portman) who saves them from an acid-spitting hydra - and manages to look utterly gorgeous throughout the movie.

The dialogue is a hearty cocktail of cod-dramatic, almost Shakespearean, seriousness and jaunty slang - with the only true anachronism in the story being the appearance of a plate of fishfingers!

The marketing for Your Highness was so intent on pushing the "edgy" drugs angle - which is such a small part of the humour anyway - that it failed to even hint that this was a film with magic and monsters in!

In fact, this is everything I had hoped for from Kröd Mändoon And The Flaming Sword Of Fire (remember that?) and failed to get.

Old School gamers, in particular, will get a kick out of this because Your Highness is basically a true representation of "in-character" dialogue between participants in a Dungeons & Dragons adventure - swearing, banter, crude jokes, sexual innuendo and a lot of laughing - while slashing their way through a "rescue the princess" scenario.

There's a chance this could become the gamer's 21st Century go-to movie for "at table quoting" - alongside earlier classics such as Monty Python And The Holy Grail and Army Of Darkness.

It also made me think: there aren't enough "rescue the princess" scenarios in gaming these days. It's all about finding a special treasure (which Thadeous does) and averting prophecies (which they do), but Your Highness is a great example of how you can blend the classic dungeon-crawl, hack'n'slash mentality with a genuine romantic story as well - and not let the latter get so soppy as to overwhelm the former.

This sort of adventure is heightened by giving the player-characters a personal stake in their quest - which is why it's always good, eventually, to find out a bit about a character's backstory or try to inveigle them into some kind of in-campaign romance or relationship.

It Constantly Amazes Me How Brilliant This Looks!

Jabberwocky (1977)

A Dark Age kingdom is being terrorised by a mysterious monster, driving much of its populace to seek shelter behind the walls of the main city.

Eventually doddery, old King Bruno the Questionable (comedy legend Max Wall) decides to organise a brutal jousting tournament to find "a champion" to slay the beast.

This is despite appeals by his equally aged Chancellor, Passelewe (the always excellent John Le Mesurier of Dad's Army and the Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy radio plays) who would rather the search was conducted in such a way as to not keep killing off the land's knights.

Meanwhile, upon the death of his father, clueless and clumsy Dennis Cooper (future national treasure Michael Palin) decides to leave the village where he grew up and move to the city, to start afresh.

This leads to a series of chaotic, often slapstick, set-pieces as he bumbles his way through every encounter from trying to get into the city to being mistaken for a prince-in-disguise by Bruno's daughter, the princess (Deborah Fallender).

Her hand-in-marriage and half the kingdom are being offered by the king to whoever kills the troublesome monster.

After his only friend, Ethel the lusty squire (Steptoe and Son's Harry H. Corbett), is accidentally killed, Dennis ends up as the squire to the eventual champion of the joust, Red Herring (Dave Prowse aka Darth Vader), and the two brave men set out into the mist-dappled lands, looking for the fearful monster.

However, the church and the rich merchant-nobles of the city aren't so keen to see the creature murdered because it is surprisingly good for business, as people are buying and praying more.

Therefore, they engineer an ambush by the Black Knight (also Dave Prowse), and his small gang of thugs, to take out Red Herring - and Dennis - before they actually reach the monster's lair.

I can't believe I was halfway through my sixtieth cycle around the sun before I made time to see Jabberwocky, a wonderfully, very British, dark comedy with smatterings of gory Grand Guignol.

While strictly not a Monty Python movie, it is written and directed by Terry Gilliam, stars Michael Palin and features several Python regular collaborators, as well as a host of British comedy faces of the era.

There's also the visual, grimy Medieval verisimilitude of 1975's Monty Python and The Holy Grail (which Gilliam co-directed) and a similar picaresque throughline to 1979's Life of Brian.

The monster - which may be the Jabberwocky of the title, but is never directly called that - remains unseen until the climax, with Gilliam instead employing canny, low-budget camera techniques as would be used in Sam Raimi's 1981 Evil Dead (and then the rest of that gore-drenched franchise).

Once we finally see it, the Jabberwocky (a man in a costume) is more Classic Doctor Who era alien than glorious Sir John Tenniel illustration, but that just heightens the surreal craziness of the film.

The film's title, and monster's possible name, comes, of course, from the famous nonsense poem in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There.

Snatches of the poem are heard, Greek Chorus-like, throughout the film, recited by an unseen - and unidentified - Punch and Judy puppeteer, heightening the mythological - or fairy tale - nature of the adventure.

Ultimately, the 105-minute Jabberwocky may not be as laugh-out-loud funny as much of Gilliam's other work, but it still manages to be subversive and smart behind its veneer of blood, guts, and toilet humour.

Erik The Viking (1989)

It is the Age of Ragnarok, the skies are dark, and men are constantly at war with each other. Erik The Viking (Tim Robbins) is sick and tired of the endless cycle of marauding and looting to pay for the next expedition to go marauding and looting. He wants things to change.

Feeling guilty for the death of an innocent woman, Helga (Samantha Bond), he seeks the advice of mountain cave-dwelling soothsayer Freya (Eartha Kitt). 

Following her proclamations, he assembles a band of men to head to the mythical land of Hy-Brasil, to find a magical horn that will grant access to Asgard and the ability to awaken the gods, who will then drive off the giant wolf Fenrir that has swallowed the sun.

However, not only is the villainous Halfdan The Black (John Cleese) on his trail, but one of his party, Keitel Blacksmith (Gary Cady), has been persuaded to try and sabotage the mission by his weaselly assistant, the ominously-named Loki (Anthony Sher), because "Ragnarok is good for business". 

Unfortunately Erik The Viking, written and directed by Monty Python's Terry Jones (director of two of the greatest cinematic comedies of all-time, Monty Python and The Holy Grail and Life of Brian) is neither as funny nor as action-packed as one might have hoped.

Not to be confused with Erik The Conqueror or The Vikings, this archetypal British comedy-adventure embraces its Norse mythology wonderfully, yet through a cynical contemporary eye, giving the whole production a strongly surreal tone.

After an awkward pre-credits prologue that hasn't aged well, the story comes alive as we meet the violent Vikings of Ravens' Fjord and Erik sets about putting together his "adventuring party".

It's been decades since I'd last seen Erik The Viking, and the only thing I could truly remember from it was Erik's longship sailing over the edge of the world. And it turns out that, in reality, that scene is nowhere near as epic as the visuals in my head!

As you would hope from the genius of the late Terry Jones, there are strong moments in the 99-minute movie (such as his own performance as the King of Hy-Brasil that's classic Terry Jones, and the Christian missionary, Harald, played by Freddie Jones, who is oblivious to all the fantastical things Erik and his crew encounter).

There's also some delightful world-building, where Jones' academic side gets to shine, but all of this is  sadly few and far between.

Clearly there is ambition at play here, but the reality of Erik The Viking falls far short of its lofty goals, with a chaotic script devolving into a series of mildly amusing set-pieces.

Packed to the gunnels with a host of top-tier comedy thespians, there's an inescapable feeling that a film such as this should be more memorable than it actually is.

I guess I was expecting a bit more Python, maybe even a Viking-themed riff on Holy Grail?

The Blu-Ray of Erik The Viking, from Patriot, comes with - among its many extras - a 79-minute cut of the film, put together by Jones and his editor son, Bill, that supposedly distils the movie down to the creator's original vision for the story. So I guess I should check that out at some point. 

Rick and Morty are Back - And They're Bringing A Friend!

The new - ninth - season of my favourite television show, Rick and Morty, kicked off today with a delightfully, over-the-top, bombastic episode.

And in July, we're getting a new show from their 'verse: President Curtis.

The Big Bang Spin-Off We Didn't Know We Needed

Stuart Fails to Save The Universe looks wild, and totally not what fans of the largely-grounded Big Bang Theory were expecting. Even Rachel's looking forward to this one.

ONLY TEN DAYS UNTIL SCI-FI SHENANIGANS!

Geekgasm moment: Rick and Morty meet Dungeons & Dragons onscreen!

Clear Your Schedule! New Rick and Morty Is Almost Here!

Another Tasty Horror Treat From Apple

Matthew Rhys stars as Mayor Tom Loftis in Apple's Widow's Bay

Widow’s Bay is a quaint island town 40 miles off the coast of New England. But something lurks beneath the surface. Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) is desperate to revive his struggling community. There’s no Wi-Fi, spotty cellular reception and he must contend with superstitious locals who believe their island is cursed.

He wants these people to respect him. They don’t. They think he is soft and cowardly. And he is. But Loftis is determined to build a better future for his teenage son and turn the island into a tourist destination.

Miraculously, he succeeds: tourists are finally coming. Unfortunately, the locals were right. After decades of calm, the old stories that seemed too ludicrous to be true, start happening again. Widow’s Bay blends genuine horror with character-driven comedy.

From these teases, it would appear that Widow's Bay is a delicious blend of dark humour, Stephen King, HP Lovecraft, and Twin Peaks. Possibly. Or it could be something completely different... but I look forward to finding out.

Hailing from Apple Studios, Widow’s Bay is created, showrun, executive produced and written by Katie Dippold.

Director Hiro Murai executive produces alongside Carver Karaszewski, Claudia Shin and Rhys. Murai directs five episodes this season, in addition to directors Ti West, Sam Donovan and Andrew DeYoung.

Apparently the story of Widow's Bay began as a spec script Dippold wrote for - of all things - that greatest of sitcoms Parks and Recreation. Which makes me want to watch this even more!!!

The first two episodes of the show drop in three weeks, on April 29, then the remaining eight episodes of the series will appear on subsequent Wednesdays through to June 17 (with a second double-dip on May 27).