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Five Horror Shows That Audiences Have All But Forgotten

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Horror on television is experiencing a boom that viewers haven’t seen since the old days of Rod Serling and Alfred Hitchcock.  With shows like American Horror Story, The Walking Dead, and Hannibal, there’s plenty on the air to keep even the most insatiable viewers busy.  Even during the slim years, however, there were pockets of horror programming that slipped through the cracks.  Here are five forgotten horror shows that came and went before they even had a chance.

 

1. Freakylinks

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Freakylinks was a show that was developed by Haxan Films (the creators of The Blair Witch Project) for the Fox network in 2000.  It starred Ethan Embry as the operator of a website called Freakylinks.com who, along with his team, investigated claims of paranormal activity and supernatural occurrences.  In many regards, Freakylinks was a poor-man’s The X-Files, with the gang checking out a different monster-of-the-week during every episode, their collective experiences hinting at a larger mythology.  That mythology was never fully realized, however, as Freakylinks lasted only one season.  The curious can find episodes of the show on YouTube.  Here’s the first one.

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2. Fear

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Before there was Paranormal State or Ghost Hunters, there was FearFear was part game show, part paranormal research show, and it aired on MTV in the early 2000s.  Also known as MTV’s Fear, the show tossed a group of kids into a supposedly haunted place and made them investigate the spookiness, with a monetary reward waiting at the end for those who did not chicken out.  It was a cool prototype for the modern ghost hunting shows, but with more of an exploitative methodology; the producers always seemed like they were purposely trying to scare the hell out of the contestants.  Just like Freakylinks, many episodes of Fear can be found on YouTube.  Here’s the first one, in which the unsuspecting players investigate West Virginia State Penitentiary.

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3. Fear Itself

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When the Showtime network elected to not renew Masters of Horror for a third season, series creator Mick Garris took his concept to NBC, and the resulting series was Fear ItselfFear Itself basically WAS the third season of Masters of Horror, following the same formula of teaming up established directors and writers to make hour long horror films.  Because they were airing on broadcast television as opposed to pay cable, episodes of Fear Itself had to be edited for content, as well as shortened in order to make room for the commercials.  Even with the limitations, Fear Itself was still probably one of the scariest shows to ever air on network television.  It was put on hiatus during the 2008 Olympics, and was never brought back.  Again, thanks to YouTube, here’s the first episode, “The Sacrifice.”

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4. The Hitchhiker

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Back when HBO Original Programming was in its infancy, the cable channel produced the anthology show The Hitchhiker.  Every Saturday night from 1983 to 1987, audiences were treated to a cool story along the lines of The Twilight Zone or Alfred Hitchcock Presents, each one introduced by Page Fletcher, the Canadian actor who played the show’s titular host.  The Hitchhiker had a decent run, but the show was soon replaced on HBO by Tales from the Crypt.  Luckily, select episodes continue to live on in the cyber world.  Here’s an episode from the fourth season called “Homebodies.”

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5. Darkroom

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In the fall of 1981, prime time television was awash in sitcoms and soap operas.  Looking for something different, ABC rolled the dice on an anthology horror show called Darkroom.  Hosted by James Coburn, Darkroom followed the formula of revered anthology shows like Night Gallery and The Outer Limits, bringing together different writers, directors, and actors to produce two or three tales of terror that were crammed into an hour of programming every week.  In ABC’s eyes, the experiment was a failure, and Darkroom was cancelled before the end of its first season.  Four episodes that went unaired by ABC were later compiled into the now-classic horror anthology film Nightmares.  Because of the obscurity of the show, existing copies of Darkroom episodes are of very poor quality, but they’re out there.  Here’s the first one.

[youtube id=”gV-QhrkGBrE” align=”center” autoplay=”no”]

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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