News
Halloween Wars Returning to Food Network; Horror Guests Announced!
Written by John Squires
An annual staple of the haunting season since 2011, Food Network’s original series Halloween Wars tasks the most talented candy makers, pumpkin carvers, and cake decorators in the world with creating the ultimate Halloween-themed displays, and five brand new episodes will begin airing on the network come October 2nd. As always, guests from the horror genre will judge, and this year’s stars include Elvira and Sid “Captain Spaulding” Haig!
Here’s all the info, via Halloween Daily News…
Halloween Wars is back for a spooky sixth season filled with chilling new challenges, premiering on Sunday, October 2nd at 9pm ET/PT. Six teams composed of a pumpkin carving expert, cake artist and sugar artist will battle it out as they create Halloween-themed edible displays that are so ghostly good, it’s frightening!
In each episode, teams will face two grueling challenges. First, they’ll face off in the Small Scare, where they must create a Halloween-themed design in just 45 minutes. One winning team gets an advantage in the big battle – the Spine Chiller. In the end, their creations will be judged by renowned cake decorator Shinmin Li and writer/director of the iconic Halloween horror film Child’s Play, Don Mancini, and a rotating panel of celebrity guest judges who are legends in the horror genre, including Elvira, Mistress of the Dark¸ Sid Haig (Halloween), Greg Plotkin (Director of Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension), Bitsie Tulloch (Grimm), and Carlson Young (Scream). One team will be eliminated after each episode. In the end, only one team will be declared Halloween Wars Champion by host Jonathan Bennett, and walk away with a $50,000 grand prize.
Episodes include:
Premiering Sunday, October 2nd at 9pm ET/PT – SEASON PREMIERE!
“Witches vs. Warlocks”
Halloween Wars returns, as six teams made up of an expert pumpkin carver, cake decorator, and sugar artist go to battle to create mind-blowing Halloween-themed displays, in hopes of winning the coveted title of Halloween Warschampion and a $50,000 grand prize. For the first challenge, the six go to battle to create displays that capture an epic and terrifying clash between witches and warlocks. In the end, one team will be eliminated. Special guest judge, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark joins host Jonathan Bennett and judges Shinmin Li and Don Mancini.
Premiering Sunday, October 9th at 9pm ET/PT
“Haunted Motel”
The five remaining teams made up of an expert pumpkin carver, cake decorator, and sugar artist compete to create mind-blowing and delicious Halloween-themed displays of the scariest haunted roadside motel ever seen. Judges Shinmin Li, Don Mancini and special guest judge, actor and horror icon Sid Haig from Rob Zombie’s House of 1,000 Corpses and Halloween, will help determine which team will be eliminated.
Premiering Sunday, October 16th at 9pm ET/PT
“Two Faced”
Four remaining teams made up of an expert pumpkin carver, cake decorator, and sugar artist go to battle to create mind-blowing Halloween-themed displays that capture the horror of a two-faced monster. Special guest judge actress Carlson Young from the television series Scream will help judges Shinmin Li and Don Mancini determine the teams that advance.
Premiering Sunday, October 23rd at 9pm ET/PT
“Mausoleum Mayhem”
The final three teams of expert pumpkin carvers, cake decorators, and sugar artists go to battle to create mind-blowing displays that capture the horror that unfolds inside of a crypt after dark. Three teams start this battle, but only two will earn their way into the Halloween Wars finale. The decision is made by judges Shinmin Li, Don Mancini and special guest judge Greg Plotkin the director of Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension.
Premiering Sunday, October 30th at 9pm ET/PT – SEASON FINALE!
“Demonic Wedding”
It’s the horrifying finale of Halloween Wars. The final two teams made up of a pumpkin carving expert, cake artist, and sugar artist go head-to-head one last time. Only the team that can best capture the scariest and most demonic wedding ever imagined will be crowned Halloween Wars champion, and win $50,000. Special guest judge actress Bitsie Tulloch from Grimm will join judges Shinmin Li and Don Mancini to determine who wins.
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News
The Tall Man Funko Pop! Is a Reminder of the Late Angus Scrimm
The Funko Pop! brand of figurines is finally paying homage to one of the scariest horror movie villains of all time, The Tall Man from Phantasm. According to Bloody Disgusting the toy was previewed by Funko this week.
The creepy otherworldly protagonist was played by the late Angus Scrimm who passed away in 2016. He was a journalist and B-movie actor who became a horror movie icon in 1979 for his role as the mysterious funeral home owner known as The Tall Man. The Pop! also includes the bloodsucking flying silver orb The Tall Man used as a weapon against trespassers.
He also spoke one of the most iconic lines in independent horror, “Boooy! You play a good game, boy, but the game is finished. Now you die!”
There is no word on when this figurine will be released or when preorders will go on sale, but it’s nice to see this horror icon remembered in vinyl.
Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'
News
Director of ‘The Loved Ones’ Next Film is a Shark/Serial Killer Movie
The director of The Loved Ones and The Devil’s Candy is going nautical for his next horror film. Variety is reporting that Sean Byrne is gearing up to make a shark movie but with a twist.
This film titled Dangerous Animals, takes place on a boat where a woman named Zephyr (Hassie Harrison), according to Variety, is “Held captive on his boat, she must figure out how to escape before he carries out a ritualistic feeding to the sharks below. The only person who realizes she is missing is new love interest Moses (Hueston), who goes looking for Zephyr, only to be caught by the deranged murderer as well.”
Nick Lepard writes it, and filming will begin on the Australian Gold Coast on May 7.
Dangerous Animals will get a spot at Cannes according to David Garrett from Mister Smith Entertainment. He says, “‘Dangerous Animals’ is a super-intense and gripping story of survival, in the face of an unimaginably malevolent predator. In a clever melding of the serial killer and shark movie genres, it makes the shark look like the nice guy,”
Shark movies will probably always be a mainstay in the horror genre. None have ever really succeeded in the level of scariness reached by Jaws, but since Byrne uses a lot of body horror and intriguing images in his works Dangerous Animals might be an exception.
Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'
Movies
PG-13 Rated ‘Tarot’ Underperforms at the Box Office
Tarot starts off the summer horror box office season with a whimper. Scary movies like these are usually a fall offering so why Sony decided to make Tarot a summer contender is questionable. Since Sony uses Netflix as their VOD platform now maybe people are waiting to stream it for free even though both critic and audience scores were very low, a death sentence to a theatrical release.
Although it was a fast death — the movie brought in $6.5 million domestically and an additional $3.7 million globally, enough to recoup its budget — word of mouth might have been enough to convince moviegoers to make their popcorn at home for this one.
Another factor in its demise might be its MPAA rating; PG-13. Moderate fans of horror can handle fare that falls under this rating, but hardcore viewers who fuel the box office in this genre, prefer an R. Anything less rarely does well unless James Wan is at the helm or that infrequent occurrence like The Ring. It might be because the PG-13 viewer will wait for streaming while an R generates enough interest to open a weekend.
And let’s not forget that Tarot might just be bad. Nothing offends a horror fan quicker than a shopworn trope unless it’s a new take. But some genre YouTube critics say Tarot suffers from boilerplate syndrome; taking a basic premise and recycling it hoping people won’t notice.
But all is not lost, 2024 has a lot more horror movie offerings coming this summer. In the coming months, we will get Cuckoo (April 8), Longlegs (July 12), A Quiet Place: Part One (June 28), and the new M. Night Shyamalan thriller Trap (August 9).
Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'
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