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5 Times Your Favorite Horror Villains Went to Space

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Space

Horror villains typically have their usual haunts, but can end up in some strange places – military school, reality TV, Manhattan… but on occasion, they’ll go somewhere totally out of this world. That’s right, villains in space! How fancy.

Let’s take a look at 5 movies where a beloved horror villain has gone intergalactic.

Dracula 3000

Image result for dracula 3000

via ActionFlickChick

This TV movie starring Casper Van Dien and Tommy “Tiny” Lister includes some character names from Bram Stoker’s Dracula – Van Helsing and Mina. But for a movie called Dracula 3000, you might be surprised to learn that the vampire on board is actually… Count Orlock? Wait, that can’t be right…

Captain Van Helsing’s crew finds an abandoned ship that is – for some ungodly reason – full of coffins. Of course, one of them happens to host a vampire. It’s similar to Bram Stoker’s version where Dracula comes to England in his coffin on an otherwise “abandoned” ship (spoiler: he killed the crew). Other than those references, there’s really no other tie-in to Dracula himself. But Dracula 3000 is a snappier title than “Vampires in Space”.

The film seems to greatly enjoy the sci-fi theme (embracing the “fashion of the future”, aka, leather pants). Characters set a course for the “Kessel run system” with the Captain’s command to “make it so”. It’s almost kinda cute. And if you want to see Coolio as a vampire, well, look no further.

Anyway, the only solution to the crew’s vampire problem is to blow up the ship. The ending is… totally fucking abrupt. I actually had to rewind it 3 times because I was convinced that it skipped a scene. But no. That’s just how it ends.

Jason X

Image result for jason x joblo

via JoBlo

First off, can we acknowledge that David Cronenberg makes a cameo here? Okay thanks.

We open with a careening trip through the fiery pits of Hell Jason’s insides. It’s a cute little way to acknowledge the former film, Jason Goes to Hell, but also ignore it completely. Because horror franchises are at their best when the writer says “Shhh, don’t worry about it”.

Jason Voorhees – frozen in a cryogenic pod in the early 21st century – is discovered in the year 2455 and brought on board the Grendel, a ship full of young students future victims. Because naturally when you find a machete-wielding masked man in a cryogenic pod next to the body of a stabbed woman, you bring them on board and revive them. Sure.

Let the carnage begin!

Jason X is silly fun with lots of Jason rampage time. I should also note that this is Kane Hodder’s last performance as Jason. It’s just good ol’ fashioned entertainment, and it’s not overly complicated. Because it shouldn’t be. It’s Jason in space, dammit.

Leprechaun 4: In Space

Image result for leprechaun 4

via Uproxx

Now, I’ve discussed this film before, but this bears repeating. The Leprechaun bursts fully formed from a guy’s dick! I can’t get over it. It’s such a ridiculously ballsy (pun!) way to get the character on board a spaceship.

The whole point of having the Leprechaun on the spaceship is that he wants to marry the rescued alien princess on board so he can become royalty. I don’t know how he got on an alien planet to begin with, but I’m fairly certain the caveat of the Leprechaun films is that you really can’t question them.

At any rate, he goes on to cause some mischief and mayhem – as he does – and the death toll rises. And that’s why we’re all here, right?

Critters 4

Image result for critters 4 HalloweenLove

via HalloweenLove

While the Critters are not from our world, this is the first film in the franchise that takes the action back to their turf. Space. The final frontier.

Charlie McFadden – who you may remember from every other Critters film – is back as a bounty hunter. He tracks down two Critter eggs and is about to do his thing when his alien friend Ug appears – via hologram – and warns him that he cannot destroy the eggs. They’re the last two Critters in existence and destroying them is against intergalactic law as that would cause their extinction. Seems legit.

He places the eggs in a preservation pod and accidentally gets locked inside. The pod is launched into space – along with Charlie – and picked up by a salvage ship in the year 2045. So that’s how they get back to space. In the future! Because it’s not a space adventure if it’s not set in the future.

Naturally, the eggs hatch, the Critters escape, they breed a whole bunch, and they attack the crew. Like Leprechaun 4, Critters 4 is weirdly plot heavy. My darlings, take a lesson from Jason X – just plain bloody carnage is fine.

To be fair, the whole thing is wrapped up thanks to a distraction provided by a juggling trick, so…

Hellraiser: Bloodline

Image result for hellraiser bloodline imdb

via IMDb

Finishing the list with another fourth segment of a franchise that takes place in space, we’ve got Hellraiser: Bloodline. Now, keep in mind that we only really see Pinhead causing intergalactic havoc for, like, the last 30 minutes of the damn movie. The rest is all preamble.

But there’s a method to the madness! Pinhead is actually in space for a reason which is meticulously explained through the rest of the film. There’s a long history, here.

An engineer locks himself in a room aboard a space station, but upon his apprehension, he agrees to explain why. Evidently, he’s an ancestor of the toymaker that created the Lament Configuration. Forever shame. The engineer aims to trap the Cenobites once and for all, destroying them and the gateway to Hell.

It’s a whole lot of setup for 30 minutes of bloody panic. But! We learn a lot about the whole gang in the process. So, really, the movie is both a prequel and a sequel. That’s some The Godfather Part II shit. But with more Cenobites.

 

Want more space horror? Check out our list of The Best Spacemen Outside of “Alien”

You can find more from Kelly on Instagram and Twitter @kellsmcnells

Featured image via IMDb

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The Pope’s Exorcist Officially Announces New Sequel

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The Pope’s Exorcist is one of those films that’s just fun to watch. It isn’t the most terrifying film around, but there’s something about Russel Crow (Gladiator) playing a wise cracking Catholic priest that just feels right.

Screen Gems seems to agree with this assessment, as they have just officially announced that The Pope’s Exorcist sequel is in the works. It makes sense that Screen Gems would want to keep this franchise going, considering the first film scared up almost $80 million with a budget of only $18 million.

The Pope's Exorcist
The Pope’s Exorcist

According to Crow, there may even be a The Pope’s Exorcist trilogy in the works. However, recent changes with the studio may have put the third film on hold. In a sit-down with The Six O’Clock Show, Crow gave the following statement about the project.

“Well that’s in discussion at the moment. The producers originally got the kick off from the studio not just for one sequel but for two. But there’s been a change of studio heads at the moment, so that’s going around in a few circles. But very definitely, man. We set that character up that you could take him out and put him into a lot of different circumstances.”

Crow has also stated that film’s source material involves twelve separate books. This would allow the studio to take the story in all kinds of directions. With that much source material, The Pope’s Exorcist could even rival The Conjuring Universe.

Only the future will tell what becomes of The Pope’s Exorcist. But as always, more horror is always a good thing.

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New ‘Faces of Death’ Remake Will Be Rated R For “Strong Bloody Violence and Gore”

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In a move that should surprise absolutely no one, the Faces of Death reboot has been given an R rating from the MPA. Why has the film been given this rating? For strong bloody violence, gore, sexual content, nudity, language, and drug use, of course.

What else would you expect from a Faces of Death reboot? It would honestly be alarming if the film received anything less than an R rating.

Faces of death
Faces of Death

For those unaware, the original Faces of Death film released in 1978 and promised viewers video evidence of real deaths. Of course, this was just a marketing gimmick. Promoting a real snuff film would be a terrible idea.

But the gimmick worked, and franchise lived on in infamy. The Faces of Death reboot is hoping to gain the same amount of viral sensation as its predecessor. Isa Mazzei (Cam) and Daniel Goldhaber (How to Blow Up a Pipeline) will spearhead this new addition.

The hope is that this reboot will do well enough to recreate the infamous franchise for a new audience. While we don’t know much about the film at this point, but a joint statement from Mazzei and Goldhaber gives us the following info on the plot.

“Faces of Death was one of the first viral video tapes, and we are so lucky to be able to use it as a jumping off point for this exploration of cycles of violence and the way they perpetuate themselves online.”

“The new plot revolves around a female moderator of a YouTube-like website, whose job is to weed out offensive and violent content and who herself is recovering from a serious trauma, that stumbles across a group that is recreating the murders from the original film. But in the story primed for the digital age and age of online misinformation, the question faced is are the murders real or fake?”

The reboot will have some bloody shoes to fill. But from the looks of it, this iconic franchise is in good hands. Unfortunately, the film does not have a release date at this time.

That’s all the information we have at this time. Make sure to check back here for more news and updates.

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Panic Fest 2024 Review: ‘The Ceremony Is About To Begin’

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People will look for answers and belonging in the darkest places and the darkest people. The Osiris Collective is a commune predicated upon ancient Egyptian theology and was run by the mysterious Father Osiris. The group boasted dozens of members, each forgoing their old lives for one held in the Egyptian themed land owned by Osiris in Northern California. But the good times take a turn for the worst when in 2018, an upstart member of the collective named Anubis (Chad Westbrook Hinds) reports Osiris disappearing while mountain climbing and declaring himself the new leader. A schism ensued with many members leaving the cult under Anubis’ unhinged leadership. A documentary is being made by a young man named Keith (John Laird) whose fixation with The Osiris Collective stems from his girlfriend Maddy leaving him for the group several years ago. When Keith gets invited to document the commune by Anubis himself, he decides to investigate, only to get wrapped up in horrors he couldn’t even imagine…

The Ceremony Is About To Begin is the latest genre twisting horror film from Red Snow‘s Sean Nichols Lynch. This time tackling cultist horror along with a mockumentary style and the Egyptian mythology theme for the cherry on top. I was a big fan of Red Snow‘s subversiveness of the vampire romance sub-genre and was excited to see what this take would bring. While the movie has some interesting ideas and a decent tension between the meek Keith and the erratic Anubis, it just doesn’t exactly thread everything together in a succinct fashion.

The story begins with a true crime documentary style interviewing former members of The Osiris Collective and sets-up what led the cult to where it is now. This aspect of the storyline, especially Keith’s own personal interest in the cult, made it an interesting plotline. But aside from some clips later on, it doesn’t play as much a factor. The focus is largely on the dynamic between Anubis and Keith, which is toxic to put it lightly. Interestingly, Chad Westbrook Hinds and John Lairds are both credited as writers on The Ceremony Is About To Begin and definitely feel like they’re putting their all into these characters. Anubis is the very definition of a cult leader. Charismatic, philosophical, whimsical, and threateningly dangerous at the drop of a hat.

Yet strangely, the commune is deserted of all cult members. Creating a ghost town that only amps up the danger as Keith documents Anubis’ alleged utopia. A lot of the back and forth between them drags at times as they struggle for control and Anubis keeps continuing to convince Keith to stick around despite the threatening situation. This does lead to a pretty fun and bloody finale that fully leans into mummy horror.

Overall, despite meandering and having a bit of a slow pace, The ceremony Is About To Begin is a fairly entertaining cult, found footage, and mummy horror hybrid. If you want mummies, it delivers on mummies!

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