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‘Nightmare Soup’ Is A Clever ‘Scary Stories’ For Nostalgic Adults

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Written by Patti Pauley

As a loyal fan from the age of seven of  Alvin Shwartz’s Scary Stories trilogy of books, that I happened to fall into courtesy of my second grade library book fair,  it’s almost blasphemy to even think anything could come close to the nostalgic feel those tales of terror and revised urban legends those paperbacks bring us. Well, Author Jake Tri and partner illustrator Andy Sciakzo have hit all the right fuzzies with their book Nightmare Soup. To put it simply for 90’s kids everywhere- if Are You Afraid of the Dark and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark had a twisted relationship, with an occasional appearance of Tales From the Crypt trying to hop in the bed, the beautiful result you would get is Nightmare Soup.

 

nightmare soup

 

Not to say this collection of tales isn’t for young horror readers as well. As a matter of fact, my two kids ages seven and twelve, who HATE to read, fought over who’s turn it was to peruse the 30 tales of frights and were enthralled at the mind-warping illustrations that takes your imagination right into the segments you’re reading.

 

While the illustrations and layout of the tales do indeed seem to be heavily inspired by Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, the Nightmare Soup stories themselves hold their own kind of magic that completely separates them into their own entity of nightmarish illusions that I feel many young and older horror readers will cherish for years to come.

 

As I sat reading these two-three page tales of horror, while the stories themselves are unique, my horror movie mind horn was blowing harder than the cheap Vegas hooker down the street. Many of the little stories inside the book for me personally, seem to give nod to a few classic horror films and TV shows. A good example would be the very first piece of nightmare fuel in the book entitled “I Hate Clowns”. The short throws a reminiscent smell towards Eli Roth’s Clown, while another segment titled “Woman in the Window”, felt like something off an Unsolved Mysteries program. And you’re correct when assuming I read that passage in Robert Stack’s voice.

 

 

 

Just like the novella’s inspiration “Scary Stories”, the book doesn’t just limit itself to creepy passages. There’s a few funny as hell tales in there that will most likely make you laugh out loud; so be wary if you’re reading in public to avoid the awkward WTF stare. Passages such as “Mr. Wilson” and “The Troll” are definitely one-of-kind, truly funny stories with of course a horror touch, that serve as a breath of fresh air that is much-needed after getting the MASSIVE skeevies from tales such as the intertwined stories of the “The Fly” and “The Tongue” . I’m not kidding, you may want to take a shower after reading those two gems.

 

I absolutely encourage any horror lover to pick up this book up for your household coffee table and literally just leave it there. You, and if you have kids, are going to want to pick it up multiple times to revisit these future nostalgic tales for the next generation. So it’s best to just keep it off the bookshelf. If you’re interested in investing in your own copy, visit Nightmare Soup’s website by clicking here to pick up this little treasure trove of horror delight.

 

Just stay away from eating any seed-bearing fruit while you’re reading this book. Trust me. You’ll thank me later.

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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