Connect with us

News

Get Strange After Dark with The Strange Calls

Published

on

With everyone going crazy over Stranger Things, there’s one “strange” title that got lost in translation. The Strange Calls aired its one and only season in 2012 and that’s a damn shame. This Australian based television show is thoroughly enjoyable and shouldn’t be looked over.

The Strange Calls follows Toby (Toby Truslove), a new constable in a small town called Coolum. Already down in the dumps after his girlfriend breaks up with him, he is further disappointed by the state of his job. His sergeant is a mess who hates him. His office is in a busted up trailer and he is forced to work the night shift answering the emergency calls in this slow town. When he shows up to his “office” on the first night, he finds an elderly squatter in the trailer. His name is Gregor (Barry Crocker) and he’s not homeless. He just likes to be there and an avid player of Dungeons & Dragons. He also gives a warning to young Toby. “It can get pretty strange around here once the sun goes down.” Toby, of course thinks he’s out of his gourd until the calls start coming in. He finds very quickly that there’s more to this town than meets the eye.

Strange Calls

I came upon this show by chance on Netflix. A random recommendation, I went in with no expectations and blindly. It has a silly humor about it. It’s not quite slapstick, not quite sophisticated but a happy middle. “Why is this in a horror article?” you ask. Well, you are in for a treat. Between the ravenous chicken-men, murderous radio jingles, theater ghosts and more, how does it NOT fit into horror? This is a broad comparison BUT, it has the same type of set up as the one-off episodes of Supernatural or The X-Files. Each episode, although they tie together, is its own little moment. It has its own individual story-line and you could watch any given one and not miss THAT much. Is this a series to watch on repeat? Not really, but it isn’t one to miss either. It is the little hidden shows or movies that can make for a great one night binge watch. The series is only six episodes but maybe that’s all it needs. Maybe any longer and they would run out of silly paranormal creatures and the jokes that accompany them. Do yourself a favor and give The Strange Calls a shot. Get a chuckle, see a chicken-man and after the jingle episode, never turn on your radio again.

If you happen to be a fan of Stranger Things, check out the new cast list for Season 2 here.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Movies

‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

Published

on

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

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Continue Reading

Movies

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

Published

on

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.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Continue Reading

News

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

Published

on

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.

'Civil War' Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Continue Reading