Emperor

A Chinese zoo has admitted that the pandas in their exhibits were, in fact, “painted dogs.”

According to the New York Post, visitors at the Shanwei Zoo realized they were being bamboozled when the so-called pandas began panting and barking. Pandas are native to China and an international symbol of the country.

In one visitor’s video, one of the “pandas” was visibly panting while resting on a rock in a fence, while another clip had a panda with a long tail strolling about.

“It’s a PANdog,” one viewer wrote, while someone else joked: “That’s the Temu version of a panda.”

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After visitors publicized the ruse on social media, the organizers admitted they’d painted two Chow Chows — a fluffy dog breed originally from northern China — with black-and-white panda markings. Since then, visitors have demanded their money back for false advertising.

Horror movies have long captivated audiences with their ability to evoke fear, suspense, and psychological tension. Some films in the genre stand out as near-perfect examples of cinematic terror, leaving lasting impressions on viewers. These movies excel in everything from atmosphere and storytelling to performances and visual effects. However, even the most critically acclaimed horror films often have one minor flaw that prevents them from achieving true perfection. Whether it's a rushed climax, outdated special effects, or a divisive narrative twist, these imperfections don’t detract from the overall experience but leave room for debate among fans.

These 10 horror movies come incredibly close to perfection, offering an unforgettable mix of scares and craftsmanship, but each falling just short in one aspect. Despite these small shortcomings, these films remain iconic within the horror genre, continuing to inspire and terrify audiences for generations.

1. The Exorcist (1973)
2. The Shining (1980)
3. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
4. Get Out (2017)
5. Psycho (1960)
6. Jaws (1975)
7. Hereditary (2018)
8. Halloween (1978)
9. A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
10. The Witch (2015)

Up next from producer Sam Raimi‘s Raimi Productions and Hammerstone Studios (Barbarian) is Netflix’s Don’t Move, and the streamer has debuted the official trailer tonight.

Don’t Move premieres on Netflix October 25, 2024. Watch the trailer below.

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“A woman alone in the forests of Big Sur must escape a serial killer with just 20 minutes left before her body completely shuts down.”

Trailer

Without a cinema-shuttering pandemic or a production-pausing strike in the way, this year’s fall festival season should have felt like a grand return to normal. There were Oscar winners in the mix – Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie, Adrien Brody, Ron Howard, Joaquin Phoenix – as well as a host of major biopics and adaptations, making for a robust, awards-friendly lineup on paper.

But with Venice, Telluride and Toronto now out of the way, the Oscar race is far less certain than it usually is at this stage, without a clear Oppenheimer or Everything Everywhere All at Once to bet on.

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After Sundance, the release of big-budget sequel Dune: Part Two saw even stronger reviews than the first (92% vs 83%), which suggested it will probably at least repeat the original’s success at the Oscars, if not outdo it. (Part One picked up six Oscars and was nominated for four others.)

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Seven safe-ish nominee bets

• Ralph Fiennes – best actor, Conclave
• Mikey Madison – best actress, Anora
• Zoe Saldana – best supporting actress, Emilia Pérez
• Brady Corbet – best director, The Brutalist
• Danielle Deadwyler – best supporting actress, The Piano Lesson
• Angelina Jolie – best actress, Maria
• Kieran Culkin – best supporting actor, A Real Pain

Anything stand out for you?

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/17662744

Even though professional, cinema-quality digital cameras are now commonplace, they're generally not small or compact. (Take a look at Arri's current lineup, for example, with its Mini LF, used to capture Deadpool & Wolverine.) However, Danny Boyle’s forthcoming zombie flick, 28 Years Later, was shot over the summer with a bunch of adapted iPhone 15s, WIRED has learned, making the Hollywood thriller, with its budget of $75 million, the biggest movie to date filmed with smartphones.

Starring Killing Eve's Jodie Comer, next James Bond favorite Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes, 28 Years Later, due for release in June 2025, is the long-awaited follow-up to 28 Days Later—the 2002 genre-defining movie that was the first to portray zombies as scary fast rather than lumbering—and 2007's 28 Weeks Later. Boyle is joined by cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle; they won Oscars together in 2009 for their hit Slumdog Millionaire. Mantle was also cinematographer on the original 28 Days Later, as well as Boyle’s films Trance (2013), T2 Trainspotting (2017), and 127 Hours (2010).

There’s a tech story arc to Boyle and Mantle choosing Apple’s log-profile powerhouse for 28 Years Later: The pair’s 2002 kick-off movie, 28 Days Later, was filmed with an innovative-for-the-time digital camera—one of the first Hollywood feature films shot with a Canon XL-1. The lust-worthy $4,000 prosumer camcorder had interchangeable lenses and wrote data to MiniDV (digital video) tapes.

...

The use of Apple smartphones as the principal camera system on 28 Years Later was subsequently confirmed to WIRED by several people connected with the movie, detailing that the particular model used to shoot was the iPhone 15 Pro Max. (Evidently, filming took place too early for Boyle and Mantle to get their hands on the new iPhone 16 series.)

...

Several arthouse films have been shot with iPhones, including Sean Baker’s Tangerine (2015) and the Steven Soderbergh drama Unsane (2018), but these movies were limited-release, low-budget offerings compared to 28 Years Later.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/17662744

Even though professional, cinema-quality digital cameras are now commonplace, they're generally not small or compact. (Take a look at Arri's current lineup, for example, with its Mini LF, used to capture Deadpool & Wolverine.) However, Danny Boyle’s forthcoming zombie flick, 28 Years Later, was shot over the summer with a bunch of adapted iPhone 15s, WIRED has learned, making the Hollywood thriller, with its budget of $75 million, the biggest movie to date filmed with smartphones.

Starring Killing Eve's Jodie Comer, next James Bond favorite Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes, 28 Years Later, due for release in June 2025, is the long-awaited follow-up to 28 Days Later—the 2002 genre-defining movie that was the first to portray zombies as scary fast rather than lumbering—and 2007's 28 Weeks Later. Boyle is joined by cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle; they won Oscars together in 2009 for their hit Slumdog Millionaire. Mantle was also cinematographer on the original 28 Days Later, as well as Boyle’s films Trance (2013), T2 Trainspotting (2017), and 127 Hours (2010).

There’s a tech story arc to Boyle and Mantle choosing Apple’s log-profile powerhouse for 28 Years Later: The pair’s 2002 kick-off movie, 28 Days Later, was filmed with an innovative-for-the-time digital camera—one of the first Hollywood feature films shot with a Canon XL-1. The lust-worthy $4,000 prosumer camcorder had interchangeable lenses and wrote data to MiniDV (digital video) tapes.

...

The use of Apple smartphones as the principal camera system on 28 Years Later was subsequently confirmed to WIRED by several people connected with the movie, detailing that the particular model used to shoot was the iPhone 15 Pro Max. (Evidently, filming took place too early for Boyle and Mantle to get their hands on the new iPhone 16 series.)

...

Several arthouse films have been shot with iPhones, including Sean Baker’s Tangerine (2015) and the Steven Soderbergh drama Unsane (2018), but these movies were limited-release, low-budget offerings compared to 28 Years Later.

Even though professional, cinema-quality digital cameras are now commonplace, they're generally not small or compact. (Take a look at Arri's current lineup, for example, with its Mini LF, used to capture Deadpool & Wolverine.) However, Danny Boyle’s forthcoming zombie flick, 28 Years Later, was shot over the summer with a bunch of adapted iPhone 15s, WIRED has learned, making the Hollywood thriller, with its budget of $75 million, the biggest movie to date filmed with smartphones.

Starring Killing Eve's Jodie Comer, next James Bond favorite Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes, 28 Years Later, due for release in June 2025, is the long-awaited follow-up to 28 Days Later—the 2002 genre-defining movie that was the first to portray zombies as scary fast rather than lumbering—and 2007's 28 Weeks Later. Boyle is joined by cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle; they won Oscars together in 2009 for their hit Slumdog Millionaire. Mantle was also cinematographer on the original 28 Days Later, as well as Boyle’s films Trance (2013), T2 Trainspotting (2017), and 127 Hours (2010).

There’s a tech story arc to Boyle and Mantle choosing Apple’s log-profile powerhouse for 28 Years Later: The pair’s 2002 kick-off movie, 28 Days Later, was filmed with an innovative-for-the-time digital camera—one of the first Hollywood feature films shot with a Canon XL-1. The lust-worthy $4,000 prosumer camcorder had interchangeable lenses and wrote data to MiniDV (digital video) tapes.

...

The use of Apple smartphones as the principal camera system on 28 Years Later was subsequently confirmed to WIRED by several people connected with the movie, detailing that the particular model used to shoot was the iPhone 15 Pro Max. (Evidently, filming took place too early for Boyle and Mantle to get their hands on the new iPhone 16 series.)

...

Several arthouse films have been shot with iPhones, including Sean Baker’s Tangerine (2015) and the Steven Soderbergh drama Unsane (2018), but these movies were limited-release, low-budget offerings compared to 28 Years Later.

This year, in a bizarre effort to make the Oklahoma State Fair smell even worse than it already does, Dent Source sponsored and organized a competition called the Stinkin’ Sentra Giveaway.

Similar to the B.O. GEO competition of years past, the premise is simple: four people are sent to live inside one Nissan Sentra in an outdoor fair exhibit. The contestants are only allowed to leave the car once every three hours for a 15-minute bathroom break, and anything they bring into the car—like discarded food, trash, or a carnie scalp—has to stay in the car. The last person to leave wins the car.

According to local media reports, the competition concluded this past weekend. The winner was Brian Richmond, who outlasted the other three contestants and, according to witnesses, looks like he smells like a Walmart:

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Brian’s victory in the Stinkin’ Sentra competition didn’t come without some smelly and disgusting controversy.

Meet Chris Deschner. He’s the guy who finished second in the competition, leaving the car after 80 hours of being trapped inside.

In a Facebook video, Chris claims he exited the vehicle only after Brian went full Mr. Hankey and brought a cup of human excrement from the port-a-potty into the car following a bathroom break!

Yep, you read that right. The winner brought a cup of human excrement from the port-a-potty into the car following a bathroom break. If you need to take a quick break to throw up in your mouth, feel free.

Chris protested Brian’s septic stunt to contest organizers, but after holding a quick tribunal—hopefully while wearing hazmat suits—the Dent Source team determined that bringing human excrement into the Sentra was a violation of competition rules, but not enough to disqualify Brian.

They removed the cup from the car and told Chris and Brian to resume play.

Unfortunately, Chris couldn’t mentally recover from this clear violation of the laws of man. Claiming he had “more self-respect than that,” he dropped out of the competition like a loose turd, handing Brian the victory and a new, shitty car.

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If you ask me, Chris probably realized he had no chance of winning once he witnessed the sewage-level depths his opponent was willing to go for victory, so he quit under protest to try to sneak a win and save face.

Honestly, I don’t blame Chris for this move. In fact, I consider him the winner! Not only does he still have his dignity, but even better—he won’t have to drive a Nissan Sentra.

The classic short film that introduced Mickey Mouse to the world, 1928’s Steamboat Willie has officially entered the public domain, which means filmmakers don’t need the permission of Disney to use that original incarnation of Mickey in their horror movies. And a whole bunch of them are taking advantage, with a slew of twisted Mickey projects already in the works.

The first of these features was The Mouse Trap, released just last month, with Screamboat headed our way sometime next year. And then there’s Mouseboat Massacre, coming soon.

Additionally, Bloody Disgusting has exclusively learned that ITN Studios is getting set to unleash The Mouse Experiment, and they’ve provided us with the official poster today.

Coming to VOD this Halloween season, “The film follows a group of friends stuck at a fairground amusement park hunted down by a mutated rat – STEAMBOAT WILLIE.”

For the sake of clarity, this film is NOT part of the growing “Poohniverse.”

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/17641394

Haunted by a personal tragedy, home care worker, Shoo (Clare Monnelly) is sent to a remote village to care for an agoraphobic woman (Bríd Ní Neachtain) who fears the neighbours as much as she fears the Na Sídhe – sinister entities who she believes abducted her decades before. As the two develop a strangely deep connection, Shoo is consumed by the old woman’s paranoia, rituals, and superstitions, eventually leading her to confront the horrors from her own past...

A man who was charged with masturbating in his car as a schoolgirl walked past the window has told the district court that he was actually sanding the handle of a paint roller that was between his legs.

Prosecuting Inspector Tony O’Sullivan told Mallow District Court that Csaba Szentesi, 52, of Evergreen Buildings, Cork was charged with a single count of masturbating in public under Section 45-2-C of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017.

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Defence counsel John Colthurst BL acting for solicitor Killian McCarthy said that it was not the defence’s case that the girl was lying but that she was simply mistaken.

In a statement Mr Szentesi told the court that he was a painter by trade and was married with two children.

He said that he had arrived in Midleton that morning on his way to a job and stopped for something to eat and a cigarette.

Mr Szentesi said that he had a new paint roller that had a “glossy handle” and he was sanding it down because it was too slippery.

He told the court that it was between his legs and that anyone looking in the window might think it was a penis.

He said: “I am convinced what the young girl saw was the paint roller. Even an adult could confuse the situation.”

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Judge Colm Roberts commended the girl for how she conducted herself in court where she appeared by video link and in the video interview.

He said: “If this was decided on the balance of probabilities I would have no problem convicting this man but because of the seriousness of the charge it must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. On that basis I cannot convict because the evidence does not reach the required threshold.”

The judge said he found the defendant’s explanation novel and told Mr Colthurst: “If your client is cleaning handles again make sure he doesn’t do it near schoolchildren.”

The case was dismissed.

Here, we dive into the weird worlds of cosmic horror, discuss films that define the genre onscreen, and offer tips to actors and creators looking to (love)craft their own projects.

What is cosmic horror?

At its core, cosmic horror asks the question: What if humanity is truly insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe? The genre often involves characters who seek knowledge, only to encounter creatures, concepts, or locations that are beyond human comprehension.

Why is cosmic horror scary? It erases the natural human comfort that we’re important and our lives have meaning. At the heart of every cosmic horror story is the most ancient fear of all: fear of the unknown.

These types of stories are also called eldritch horror or Lovecraftian horror—after the writer who pioneered the concept, H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft’s stories often involve terrors so great they defy definition, as well as a race of “Elder Gods” who view humans the way we might regard ants on the side of the road.