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Medical Pet Sematary: Scientists Bring Dead Pigs Back to “Life”

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Large pig looking into camera lens

In what might be a scientific miracle or the overstepping of human ethics, scientists were able to get several dead pig’s hearts beating independently again. The pigs had died of cardiac arrest an hour before the experiment.

You may remember back in 2019 scientists from Yale were able to regain some brain function in dead pigs. The team gathered over 300 pig heads and removed their brains and pumped them with a special cocktail of chemicals for six hours. This project, called BrainEx didn’t result in the animal regaining consciousness, but the brain’s cellular function returned.

An extension of that project called OrganEx was recently used on intact dead pig bodies that had been clinically dead for an hour. A report says the animal’s heart, liver, and kidneys saw some reanimation where there wasn’t before. Cellular-repairing genes were also active. “These cells are functioning after they should not be,” Nenad Sestan, a project scientist told the Wall Street Journal.

Pigs (1973)

The machine they used on the carcasses resembled a “heart-lung machine.” They pumped a mixture of the animal’s blood and special chemicals into the bodies.

Advances in medicine have always been controversial, and this project is no different. Ethical questions have arisen as to the purpose of this experiment and what it suggests. Researchers say the primary purpose of these trials is to see if they can restore function to organs longer after death for use in future transplants. But if they can also potentially reanimate the brain, or use blockers to prevent it, what does that mean for potential human organ donors who have died?

And what if this new breakthrough could potentially revive recently deceased humans who died by drowning or heart attacks for example?

Frankenstein (1931)

Reviving humans who have died has long been a topic of supernatural horror movies. From Frankenstein to Re-Animator, bringing the body back leads to catastrophic results.

Perhaps there is no better example of the ethical question than in Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. After the tragic loss of his two-year-old son, Gage, Doctor Louis Creed takes his corpse to a notoriously cursed and remote burial site in Maine. The area is known to bring the dead back to life. In his grief, Creed buries his son against the warning of his neighbor Jud who tells him, “sometimes…dead is better.”

Pet Sematary (1989)

Gage returns but is seemingly possessed by a murderous entity.

Fiction in this case is much stranger than real science. But the ethical question might be the same. Is it okay to revive humans after death in order to preserve their organs for terminally ill patients? And what if the process also restores some of the deceased’s brain function? What would they be like if they “came back”?

Thankfully OrganEx project bioethicist at Yale, Stephen Latham, says the tech is, “very far away from use in humans.”

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Russell Crowe To Star in Another Exorcism Movie & It’s Not a Sequel

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Maybe it’s because The Exorcist just celebrated its 50th-anniversary last year, or maybe it’s because aging Academy Award-winning actors aren’t too proud to take on obscure roles, but Russell Crowe is visiting the Devil once again in yet another possession film. And it’s not related to his last one, The Pope’s Exorcist.

According to Collider, the film titled The Exorcism was originally going to be released under the name The Georgetown Project. Rights for its North American release were once in the hands of Miramax but then went to Vertical Entertainment. It will release on June 7 in theaters then head over to Shudder for subscribers.

Crowe will also star in this year’s upcoming Kraven the Hunter which is set to drop in theaters on August 30.

As for The Exorcism, Collider provides us with what it’s about:

“The film centers around actor Anthony Miller (Crowe), whose troubles come to the forefront as he shoots a supernatural horror movie. His estranged daughter (Ryan Simpkins) has to figure out whether he’s lapsing into his past addictions, or if something even more horrific is occurring. “

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New F-Bomb Laden ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Trailer: Bloody Buddy Movie

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Deadpool & Wolverine might be the buddy movie of the decade. The two heterodox superheroes are back in the latest trailer for the summer blockbuster, this time with more f-bombs than a gangster film.

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Movie Trailer

This time the focus is on Wolverine played by Hugh Jackman. The adamantium-infused X-Man is having a bit of a pity party when Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) arrives on the scene who then tries to convince him to team up for selfish reasons. The result is a profanity-filled trailer with a Strange surprise at the end.

Deadpool & Wolverine is one of the most anticipated movies of the year. It comes out on July 26. Here is the latest trailer, and we suggest if you are at work and your space isn’t private, you might want to put in headphones.

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Original Blair Witch Cast Ask Lionsgate for Retroactive Residuals in Light of New Film

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The Blair Witch Project Cast

Jason Blum is planning to reboot The Blair Witch Project for the second time. That’s a fairly large task considering none of the reboots or sequels have managed to capture the magic of the 1999 film that brought found footage into the mainstream.

This idea has not been lost on the original Blair Witch cast, who has recently reached out to Lionsgate to ask for what they feel is fair compensation for their role in the pivotal film. Lionsgate gained access to The Blair Witch Project in 2003 when they purchased Artisan Entertainment.

Blair witch
The Blair Witch Project Cast

However, Artisan Entertainment was an independent studio before its purchase, meaning the actors were not part of SAG-AFTRA. As a result, the cast are not entitled to the same residuals from the project as actors in other major films. The cast doesn’t feel that the studio should be able to continue to profit off of their hard work and likenesses without fair compensation.

Their most recent request asks for “meaningful consultation on any future ‘Blair Witch’ reboot, sequel, prequel, toy, game, ride, escape room, etc., in which one could reasonably assume that Heather, Michael & Josh’s names and/or likenesses will be associated for promotional purposes in the public sphere.”

The blair witch project

At this time, Lionsgate has not offered any comment about this issue.

The full statement made by the cast can be found below.

OUR ASKS OF LIONSGATE (From Heather, Michael & Josh, stars of “The Blair Witch Project”):

1. Retroactive + future residual payments to Heather, Michael and Josh for acting services rendered in the original BWP, equivalent to the sum that would’ve been allotted through SAG-AFTRA, had we had proper union or legal representation when the film was made.

2. Meaningful consultation on any future Blair Witch reboot, sequel, prequel, toy, game, ride, escape room, etc…, in which one could reasonably assume that Heather, Michael & Josh’s names and/or likenesses will be associated for promotional purposes in the public sphere.

Note: Our film has now been rebooted twice, both times were a disappointment from a fan/box office/critical perspective. Neither of these films were made with significant creative input from the original team. As the insiders who created the Blair Witch and have been listening to what fans love & want for 25 years, we’re your single greatest, yet thus-far un-utilized secret-weapon!

3. “The Blair Witch Grant”: A 60k grant (the budget of our original movie), paid out yearly by Lionsgate, to an unknown/aspiring genre filmmaker to assist in making theirfirst feature film. This is a GRANT, not a development fund, hence Lionsgate will not own any of the underlying rights to the project.

A PUBLIC STATEMENT FROM THE DIRECTORS & PRODUCERS OF “THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT”:

As we near the 25th anniversary of The Blair Witch Project, our pride in the storyworld we created and the film we produced is reaffirmed by the recent announcement of a reboot by horror icons Jason Blum and James Wan.

While we, the original filmmakers, respect Lionsgate’s right to monetize the intellectual property as it sees fit, we must highlight the significant contributions of the original cast — Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Mike Williams. As the literal faces of what has become a franchise, their likenesses, voices, and real names are inseparably tied to The Blair Witch Project. Their unique contributions not only defined the film’s authenticity but continue to resonate with audiences around the world.

We celebrate our film’s legacy, and equally, we believe the actors deserve to be celebrated for their enduring association with the franchise.

Sincerely, Eduardo Sanchez, Dan Myrick, Gregg Hale, Robin Cowie, and Michael Monello

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