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Winners of the latest Bram Stoker Awards
Los Angeles, CA – The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is a worldwide non-profit organization of professional writers and publishing professionals dedicated to promoting the interests of Horror and Dark fantasy writers. HWA announced the 2020 Bram Stoker Awards Winners at the virtual ceremony of StokerCon(TM) 2021.
“This year’s winners reflect a deep range of works from a competitive field,” said John Palisano, HWA President. “The winners and finalists truly represent a broad spectrum of titles in horror and dark fantasy. HWA members and awards juries have shown dedication and objectivity to the selection process for outstanding works of literature, cinema, non-fiction, and poetry.”
We proudly provide the list of talented winners.
Superior Achievement in a Novel
Winner: Stephen Graham Jones – The Only Good Indians (Gallery/Saga Press)
Superior Achievement in a First Novel
Winner: EV Knight – The Fourth Whore (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel
Winner: Adam Cesare – Clown in a Cornfield (HarperTeen)
Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel
Winner: Nancy Holder, Chiara Di Francia, and Amelia Woo – Mary Shelley Presents Tales of the Supernatural (Kymera Press)
Superior Achievement in Long Fiction
Winner: Stephen Graham Jones – “Night of the Mannequins” (Tor.com)
Superior Achievement in Short Fiction
Winner: Josh Malerman – “One Last Transformation” (Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors)(Written Backwards)
Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection
Winner: Lee Murray – Grotesque: Monster Stories (Things in the Well)
Superior Achievement in a Screenplay
Winner: Leigh Whannell – The Invisible Man (Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, Goalpost Pictures, Nervous Tick Productions)
Superior Achievement in an Anthology
Winner: Lee Murray and Geneve Flynn – Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women (Omnium Gatherum Media)
Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction
Winner: Tim Waggoner – Writing in the Dark (Guide Dog Books/Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction
Winner: Tim Waggoner – “Speaking of Horror” (The Writer)
Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection
Winner: Christina Sng – A Collection of Dreamscapes (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
How Do You Make Movies in a Pandemic? Ask Horror Directors
With Hollywood productions largely shut down, more filmmakers are using computer screens—something genre films have been doing for years.
IN 2018, ANEESH Chaganty released a little thriller called Searching. It was the writer-director’s debut feature, and it garnered him a bit of attention (and eventually $75 million at the box office). Centered on a young father trying to find his missing daughter by scouring social media, the movie relied on a novel narrative tool: The entire thing was set on computer screens. At the time, it was seen as a smart gimmick. Little did Chaganty know that his filmmaking strategy would be an invaluable model for making movies in the middle of a global pandemic.
Back in March, Hollywood effectively shut down. As fears over the new coronavirus spread, social-distancing necessities rendered work on TV and film sets nearly impossible. As a result, studios and filmmakers began looking for a way to keep working from home. That’s when Chaganty’s inbox started getting bombarded. Originally, the inquiries “felt very smart,” Chaganty says. Friends in the business would write saying they’d just ended a meeting where Searching had come up, and everyone was wondering if the team behind it had any similar tricks up their sleeves. Then it happened again. And again.
“It just felt like nobody was realizing that everybody was having this same realization, that you can make something on a computer screen, or at least make projects on it a little faster during this time,” he says. “It was a little funny and disarming. In March and April, we were just getting like, ‘Hey man, we just ended up thinking about Searching!’ and it was like, ‘OK cool, so is everybody.’”
For the record, Chaganty does have a couple projects in the works. He has a movie called Run that got pulled from the release calendar when movie theaters closed due to Covid-19, and he’s working on a Searching sequel. Also, Searching wasn’t exactly made by recording Zoom calls; he filmed the actors in person and added the screen effects in postproduction. He’s not really trying to be the movies-on-computer-screens director, but he does see the kind of films he makes—mysteries, thrillers—as uniquely suited to these times. When all creative endeavors have to be accomplished remotely, over videoconference and email and Slack, you might as well turn the bug into a feature. “Ultimately, what computers are is information.” Chaganty says. “It’s just words; it’s information being conveyed to you and information you can send. No genre in the world has more reason for information than a mystery.”
The same is true for horror. In many ways, the genre is proving prescient when it comes to the limited kinds of movies filmmakers can attempt during lockdown. Way back in 2014, director Levan Gabriadze set his entire film Unfriended in a Skype call between a handful of friends. Its sequel, Unfriended: Dark Web, did the same. 2014’s The Den also leaned heavily on video chat. It’s no wonder, then, that one of the first features made during the Covid-19 pandemic—Host, which hits the streaming service Shudder on Thursday—is set in Zoom. Shot entirely by the film’s cast in their own homes, director Rob Savage’s movie—inspired by a prank he pulled on his friends—was made in less than three months. It centers on a group of six friends who perform a séance on a videoconference; naturally, things go wrong. (Fun fact: Savage organized a Zoom séance with his cast and an actual medium as preparation. A book flew off the shelf of lead actor Jemma Moore’s house.)
“We saw a short horror film Rob shot during quarantine that went viral, and we immediately asked if he had an idea for a full-length feature,” Craig Engler, Shudder’s general manager said in a statement. “What he and his team created in Host surpassed all our expectations.”
Host is a prime example of necessity being the mother of invention. Savage had only so many tools at his disposal—basically his crew, their laptops, and what they had handy while quarantined—but he says he was also to get help from a lot of people because everyone was clamoring for a creative pursuit. The result is a movie that feels like a product of quarantine (because Zoom calls are now inextricably linked to the pandemic) but also something separate from it: a classic haunting flick full of jump-scares. “As a horror filmmaker, one of the things you’re always looking for is an idea the audience will take home with them,” Savage says. “You’re always looking for a way to ground it in day-to-day reality. We were just lucky that everyone is stuck at home, and everyone has this shared reality at the moment where 99 percent of us Zoom in how we communicate, how we see people.”
That said, no one—Savage included—wants to make a movie that feels like a gimmick, like they made it just to see if they could. Genre movies, and those who make them, are uniquely equipped for using computer screens as this stage, but that doesn’t mean making a movie that looks like it was made during a pandemic is wise. Nick Simon recently completed filming his latest feature by directing his cast over videoconference and having them film themselves. (They even did their own hair and makeup.) The currently untitled movie also features a group of friends who summon a spirit, but Simon’s film is decidedly a horror-comedy, something meant to lighten the mood during dark times. For that reason, Simon was pretty adamant that the movie not take place during the coronavirus lockdowns. Pandemic horror is pretty easy to do, but kinda gauche during a public health crisis.
“We wanted to come up with a story without ever mentioning that stuff,” Simon says. “This is just a story told with the restrictions we had. How do we write something, or tell a story, when we know we can’t leave our house? We know that we can’t have our actors together. Can we come up with a story that’s not about the situation we’re in?”
“We saw a short horror film Rob shot during quarantine that went viral, and we immediately asked if he had an idea for a full-length feature,” Craig Engler, Shudder’s general manager said in a statement. “What he and his team created in Host surpassed all our expectations.”
Host is a prime example of necessity being the mother of invention. Savage had only so many tools at his disposal—basically his crew, their laptops, and what they had handy while quarantined—but he says he was also to get help from a lot of people because everyone was clamoring for a creative pursuit. The result is a movie that feels like a product of quarantine (because Zoom calls are now inextricably linked to the pandemic) but also something separate from it: a classic haunting flick full of jump-scares. “As a horror filmmaker, one of the things you’re always looking for is an idea the audience will take home with them,” Savage says. “You’re always looking for a way to ground it in day-to-day reality. We were just lucky that everyone is stuck at home, and everyone has this shared reality at the moment where 99 percent of us Zoom in how we communicate, how we see people.”
That said, no one—Savage included—wants to make a movie that feels like a gimmick, like they made it just to see if they could. Genre movies, and those who make them, are uniquely equipped for using computer screens as this stage, but that doesn’t mean making a movie that looks like it was made during a pandemic is wise. Nick Simon recently completed filming his latest feature by directing his cast over videoconference and having them film themselves. (They even did their own hair and makeup.) The currently untitled movie also features a group of friends who summon a spirit, but Simon’s film is decidedly a horror-comedy, something meant to lighten the mood during dark times. For that reason, Simon was pretty adamant that the movie not take place during the coronavirus lockdowns. Pandemic horror is pretty easy to do, but kinda gauche during a public health crisis.
“We wanted to come up with a story without ever mentioning that stuff,” Simon says. “This is just a story told with the restrictions we had. How do we write something, or tell a story, when we know we can’t leave our house? We know that we can’t have our actors together. Can we come up with a story that’s not about the situation we’re in?”
Everyone will find out when Simon is finished with his film, but the signs point to yes.
See the entire article HERE
‘EVIL DEAD’ VIDEO GAME ANNOUNCED FOR 2021
by Rob Caprilozzi
See the trailer HERE
A brand new Evil Dead game is on the way courtesy of Saber Interactive and Boss Team Games. Announced last night at The Game Awards ceremony, Evil Dead: The Game is a co-op and PvP multiplayer title in development for PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
Not only will the game feature Ash and plenty of Deadites but the trailer gives us a glimpse of characters all across the Evil Dead timeline including Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo) from Ash vs. Evil Dead, Lord Arthur (Marcus Gilbert) from Army of Darkness, and Scott (Richard DeManincor) from Evil Dead.
Boss Team Games is working in collaboration with Renaissance Pictures, Studiocanal, Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), and Lionsgate to create the game. The game has sights and sounds inspired by the films The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn, and Army of Darkness, as well as the STARZ original Ash vs Evil Dead television series.
“I’m excited to be strapping on the chainsaw one more time,” said Bruce Campbell, who has given life to Ashley J. Williams across multiple films and the recent STARZ original “Ash vs Evil Dead” television series. “Boss Team and Saber Interactive are planning a huge immersive dealio, and I knew I had to come back. You’ll be able to step into my shoes and kick some Deadite ass!”
Players can work together as a team of four survivors, exploring, looting, crafting, managing your fear, and finding key artifacts to seal the breach between worlds. In addition to being the hero’s, players are also able to take control of the powerful Kandarian Demon to hunt Ash and his friends while possessing Deadites, the environment, and even the survivors themselves as you seek to swallow their souls.
The internet’s scariest alternate reality game: The devil in New Jersey
by Susan Leighton
The devil is in New Jersey or at least that is what a scary new internet alternate reality game wants you to believe.
The devil has a residence and apparently, it’s in New Jersey. This past weekend, social media has been hooked on a scary new alternate reality game. We even tried it.
A mysterious post featuring a 908-area code telephone number has been making the rounds on Facebook. Random scraps of paper have been left all over various parts of the Garden State encouraging people to call it.
Most of the responses have ranged from people thinking that if you dial the digits you will get a call like in The Ring saying you have seven days to live to others cracking jokes about what could possibly happen. However, in reality, it is the beginning of a scavenger hunt of sorts.
After you call the number, you will hear a busy signal. That fades and then the next thing that happens is a man (who sounds an awful lot like Jeffrey Combs) comes on the line and asks the following eerie question, “Who is the grey man hungry for human flesh?”
This query references the notorious serial killer, Albert Fish a.k.a. “The Brooklyn Vampire.” If you aren’t familiar with his tale, it is a chilling and gruesome one. Fish, who was also known as “The Gray Man,” was a psychopath who lured unsuspecting children to their deaths and then cannibalized them. His life was made into a movie in 2007 starring Patrick Bauchau as the sadomasochistic murderer.
Once you answer correctly via text message, you will be prompted with a video link which takes you here. The film that plays is filled with ancient cartoons and footage of Valentine’s Day cards. Pay close attention to the end of the dialogue because listeners will be asked another question.
Okay, this one is tricky and took some research. It involves a man named Toby Rasputin who is a patient at the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital. He escapes the facility and then hotwires an old pick-up truck. Heading out to County Route 579, the voice asks what is the speed limit so that the fugitive can elude capture and make it to his destination undetected. 65 m.p.h. would be the answer.
Some astute players noticed that in a particular social media post, which can be found at this link, the person behind it is employed at The Basement Escape Room. Which has everyone wondering if this is an inventive advertising campaign for an upcoming virtual event?
If it is, then hats off to the marketing department at The Basement because this is inspired. Check out the following video which is a nice introduction to this haunting ARG.
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