FX is helping to celebrate the season of beasties and ghoulies with a special four-part American Horror Stories Huluween event. The network’s just released a short but creepy teaser for the upcoming event that’s set to premiere on October 26, 2023.
The teaser was accompanied by four posters – “Besties,” “Organ,” “Tapeworm,” and “Daphne” – for the Huluween event.
The Huluween event continues the American Horror Stories tradition of featuring a different horror story in each episode. Created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, American Horror Stories is a spinoff of Murphy and Falchuk’s American Horror Story anthology series. American Horror Stories premiered in July 2021, with an eight-episode season two following in July 2022.
Murphy, Falchuk, Alexis Martin Woodall, Max Winkler, Manny Coto, and Jon Robin Baitz serve as executive producers.
Season 12 of American Horror Story, AHS: Delicate, premiered on September 20, 2023. New episodes of season 12 part one air on Wednesdays at 10pm ET/PT. Part two will premiere in 2024.
A family learns they’ll need more than pool noodles and floaties to survive a dip in their backyard swimming pool in Night Swim. Based on Rod Blackhurst and Bryce McGuire’s short film, Night Swim‘s first trailer shows a nighttime swim and an innocent game of Marco Polo quickly devolving into a terrifying fight for survival.
Wyatt Russell (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), Oscar nominee Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin), Amélie Hoeferle (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes), and Gavin Warren (Fear the Walking Dead) star in the supernatural thriller from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse.
Bryce McGuire wrote the screenplay and directed, with James Wan (The Conjuring franchise) and Jason Blum producing. Blumhouse’s Ryan Turek and Atomic Monster’s Michael Clear and Judson Scott executive produce.
“Night Swim is a very spooky haunted pool movie,” said executive producer Turek in a recent interview with EW. “Because it was developed by Atomic Monster, it’s got all of the heart and soul that comes with a James Wan film and a lot of underwater nightmare imagery that I’m excited for people to see.”
Night Swim will open in theaters on January 5, 2024.
Poster for Universal Pictures’ ‘Night Swim’
The Plot, Courtesy of Universal Pictures:
Wyatt Russell stars as Ray Waller, a former major league baseball player forced into early retirement by a degenerative illness, who moves into a new home with his concerned wife Eve (Condon), teenage daughter Izzy (Hoeferle) and young son Elliot (Warren).
Secretly hoping, against the odds, to return to pro ball, Ray persuades Eve that the new home’s shimmering backyard swimming pool will be fun for the kids and provide physical therapy for him. But a dark secret in the home’s past will unleash a malevolent force that will drag the family under, into the depths of inescapable terror.
The incredible life and career of artist and restaurateur Michael Chow is the focus of the HBO Original documentary aka Mr. Chow. Directed by Nick Hooker (AgnelIi), the documentary features interviews with Mr. Chow as well as artists Peter Blake, Julian Schnabel, and Ed Ruscha, and family members Cecilia Zhou, Maximillian Chow, China Chow, and Vanessa Chow.
“My father was completely an artist. Revolutionized the Beijing Opera,” recalls Michael Chow. “He said to me, ‘Wherever you go, always remember, you are Chinese.'”
Jean Tsien wrote, edited, and executive produced the intimate look at Michael Chow’s amazing life. Graydon Carter, Annabelle Dunne, Pulse Films’ Marisa Clifford and Miranda Soto, and HBO’s Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, and Sara Rodriguez executive produced.
aka Mr. Chow premieres on October 22, 2023 at 9pm ET/PT.
The Plot, Courtesy of HBO:
aka Mr. Chow details the vibrant and varied life of Michael Chow. Born Zhou Yinghua in 1930s Shanghai, he would use creativity to triumph over childhood trauma, personal loss, and systemic prejudice, growing up to become the actor and artist before inventing a new identity, Mr. Chow, when he opens the first of his iconic restaurants. Having found fame and fortune in the West, Mr. Chow celebrates his Chinese roots and finds catharsis by returning to painting, reemerging as the artist M.
In an intimate, spirited, and no-holds-barred interview, Michael Chow unveils the irrepressible spirit and personal philosophy that led him to counter the hardships of his early life. By single-handedly building a business empire in the 1960s and 1970s with his restaurants, he showcased the richness and opulence of Chinese food and culture and by capturing the cultural zeitgeist, they became dazzling hubs for the most celebrated artists, film stars, musicians, designers, and models of the times.
The film takes us back to his deeply personal journey, as the son of a renowned Beijing Opera grand master grappling with the profound sense of loss emanating from the early separation from his parents and home as he is sent to England at the age of 13. This familial and cultural longing informs everything from his work and personal life to his insatiable desire for success. With clips from his past work, colorful archival footage, expansive animation, and photographs of the bold-faced names who would frequent his dining spots, aka Mr. Chow reveals a man of extreme creativity and vitality, a champion of artists whose portraits blanket his walls, and a true showman once again redefining himself in the self-titled ‘fifth act’ of his life.”
NBC’s Quantum Leap season two kicked off with an episode that revealed three years have passed and Ben’s been presumed dead. Plus, the Quantum Leap project has been shut down for a year. Wow! Season two episode two, “Ben & Teller,” will find Ben dealing with these developments.
Episode two will air on Wednesday, October 11, 2023 at 8pm ET/PT. New Amsterdam‘s Janet Montgomery guest stars.
Raymond Lee leads the cast as Ben Song, Caitlin Bassett stars as Addison Augustine, and Ernie Hudson returns as Herbert “Magic” Williams. Mason Alexander Park plays Ian Wright and Nanrisa Lee is back as Jenn Chou. New season two regulars include Eliza Taylor (The 100) and Peter Gadiot (Yellowjackets) as Hannah Carson and Tom Westfall, respectively.
“Ben & Teller” Plot: Ben takes on the role of a bank teller in the wrong place at the wrong time during a dangerous armed robbery. Addison, Magic, Ian and Jenn come to terms with a shocking discovery. The team adds a new member.
Raymond Lee as Dr. Ben Song and Janet Montgomery as Rebecca in ‘Quantum Leap’ season 2 episode 2 (Photo by: NBC)
The Plot, Courtesy of NBC:
It’s been nearly 30 years since Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished. Now, a new team, led by physicist Ben Song (Raymond Lee), has been assembled to restart the project in the hope of understanding the mysteries behind the machine and the man who created it.
Everything changes, however, when Ben makes an unauthorized leap into the past, leaving the team behind to solve the mystery of why he did it. At Ben’s side throughout his leaps is Addison (Bassett), who appears in the form of a hologram only Ben can see and hear. She’s a decorated Army veteran who brings level-headed precision to her job.
At the helm of the highly confidential operation is Herbert “Magic” Williams (Hudson), a no-nonsense career military man who has to answer to his bosses who won’t be happy once they learn about the breach of protocol. The rest of the team at headquarters includes Ian Wright (Park), who runs the Artificial Intelligence unit “Ziggy,” and Jenn Chu (Lee), who heads up digital security for the project.
Mason Alexander Park as Ian and Raymond Lee as Dr. Ben Song in season 2 episode 2 (Photo by: NBC)Nanrisa Lee as Jenn in season 2 episode 2 (Photo by: Casey Durkin/NBC)Caitlin Bassett as Addison and Peter Gadiot as Tom Westfall in season 2 episode 2 (Photo by: Casey Durkin/NBC)Caitlin Bassett as Addison in the “Ben & Teller” episode (Photo by: NBC)Janet Montgomery as Rebecca in season 2 episode 2 (Photo by: NBC)Raymond Lee as Dr. Ben Song in season 2 episode 2 (Photo by: NBC)Ernie Hudson as Magic and Caitlin Bassett as Addison in season 2 episode 2 (Photo by: NBC)
The 2024 CMT Music Awards will be held on Sunday, April 7, 2024, and will air live from Austin, Texas on CBS at 8pm ET/PT (tape delayed on the West Coast). The awards show will also stream on Paramount+ with Showtime.
“We couldn’t be more excited to bring the CMT Music Awards on CBS back to Austin in 2024! From the electrifying, sold-out Moody Center crowd to fans packing the streets for our outdoor Congress stage, and Bevo himself walking the Red Carpet, our Texas-sized welcome proved to be one of our biggest and most unforgettable shows yet. We’re thankful to our incredible partners at Moody Center and with the City of Austin and are thrilled to bring CMT’s signature blend of world premieres, genre-blending surprises and once-in-a-lifetime collaborations back this April!” said executive producers Margaret Comeaux, John Hamlin, and Leslie Fram.
The 2023 broadcast drew in 6.18 million viewers, the awards show’s largest audience to date.
“The CMT Music Awards are coming back to Austin in 2024, and we couldn’t be more excited. As the ‘Live Music Capital of the World,’ Austin is no stranger to celebrating its vibrant music community and showcasing an eclectic array of musical talents. We’re proud that the CMT Music Awards are returning to Austin, and we can’t wait to welcome artists and visitors to our city,” said Austin’s mayor Kirk Watson.
Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air limited series will premiere on January 26, 2024 with the release of the first two episodes. The release date announcement was accompanied by eight photos from the upcoming action drama from Band of Brothers‘ Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Gary Goetzman.
The nine-episode limited series stars Academy Award-nominee Austin Butler (Elvis), Callum Turner, Anthony Boyle, Nate Mann, Academy Award-nominee Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin), and Rafferty Law. The cast also includes Josiah Cross, Branden Cook, and Ncuti Gatwa.
“Masters of the Air is a salute to the brave men of the 8th Air Force, who, through their courage and brotherhood, helped defeat Nazi Germany in World War II,” said executive producer Gary Goetzman. “Tom and Steven have always wanted to visualize cinematically what our author Don Miller has called, this ‘singular event in the history of warfare.’ We’re thrilled that Apple TV+ has given us the opportunity to combine the efforts of so many talented people, on-screen and behind the camera, to tell this important story.”
John Orloff adapted Donald L. Miller’s book and serves as a co-executive producer. Amblin Television’s Steven Spielberg and Playtone’s Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman executive produce.
The cast of Apple TV+’s ‘Masters of the Air’
Apple TV+ released this description of the limited series:
“Masters of the Air follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group (the ‘Bloody Hundredth’) as they conduct perilous bombing raids over Nazi Germany and grapple with the frigid conditions, lack of oxygen, and sheer terror of combat conducted at 25,000 feet in the air. Portraying the psychological and emotional price paid by these young men as they helped destroy the horror of Hitler’s Third Reich, is at the heart of Masters of the Air. Some were shot down and captured; some were wounded or killed. And some were lucky enough to make it home. Regardless of individual fate, a toll was exacted on them all.
Ranging in location from the bucolic fields and villages of southeast England, to the harsh deprivations of a German Prisoner of War Camp, and depicting a unique and crucial time in world history, Masters of the Air is enormous in both scale and scope, and a genuine cinematic achievement.”
Austin Butler and Callum Turner (Photo Credit: Apple TV+)Anthony Boyle (Photo Credit: Apple TV+)Rafferty Law (Photo Credit: Apple TV+)Nate Mann (Photo Credit: Apple TV+)Callum Turner (Photo Credit: Apple TV+)Barry Keoghan (Photo Credit: Apple TV+)
NBC’s new crime drama Found episode one introduced Gabi’s crisis management team and ended with the reveal of Gabi’s big secret. The promo video for episode two teases that viewers will get to spend more time with Gabi’s prisoner.
Episode two, “Missing While Sinning,” will air on Tuesday, October 10, 2023 at 10pm ET/PT.
Found stars Shanola Hampton as Gabi, Kelli Williams as Margaret, Brett Dalton as Detective Mark Trent, Gabrielle Walsh as Lacey, Arlen Escarpeta as Zeke, Karan Oberoi as Dhan, and Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Sir.
“Missing While Sinning” Plot: The team mobilizes to search for Jinny Coe, a personal escort who disappeared near her apartment. News anchor Joy-Ann Reid launches a nationwide search for “Sir,” who abducted Gabi and Bella when they were young. Dhan makes a breakthrough with Zeke.
Shanola Hampton as Gabi Mosely and Brett Dalton as Detective Mark Trent in ‘Found’ season 1 episode 2 (Photo by: Steve Swisher/NBC)
The Plot, Courtesy of NBC:
In any given year, more than 600,000 people are reported missing in the U.S. More than half that number are people of color that the country seems to forget about.
Public relations specialist Gabi Mosely (Hampton) — who was once herself one of those forgotten ones — and her crisis management team now make sure there is always someone looking out for the forgotten missing people. But unbeknownst to anyone, this everyday hero is hiding a chilling secret of her own.
Arlen Escarpeta as Zeke Wallace in episode 2 (Photo by: Steve Swisher/NBC)Gabrielle Elise Walsh as Lacey Quinn, Kelli Williams as Margaret Reed, Shanola Hampton as Gabi Mosely, and Karan Oberoi as Dahn Rana in episode 2 (Photo by: Steve Swisher/NBC)Gabrielle Elise Walsh as Lacey Quinn, Karan Oberoi as Dahn Rana, and Kelli Williams as Margaret Reed episode 2 (Photo by: Steve Swisher/NBC)Shanola Hampton as Gabi Mosely and Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Sir in episode 2 (Photo by: Steve Swisher/NBC)Tom Olson as Franklin Isaacs, Karan Oberoi as Dahn Rana, and Kelli Williams as Margaret Reed in episode 2 (Photo by: Steve Swisher/NBC)Shanola Hampton as Gabi Mosely and Brett Dalton as Detective Mark Trent in episode 2 (Photo by: Steve Swisher/NBC)
Lidya Jewett and Olivia O’Neill in ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ (Photo Credit: Universal Pictures)
Everything that sprouts from the soil of The Exorcist pales in comparison, with only Jeremy Slater’s The Exorcist series (canceled far too soon after just two seasons) living up to the standards of William Peter Blatty’s book and William Friedkin’s film adaptation. With the bar set incredibly high, the odds were against The Exorcist: Believer from the start. And, unfortunately, not even the much-ballyhooed return of Ellen Burstyn as Chris MacNeil can cast out the dreaded sequel demons.
The film kicks off with a flashback that only fills in minor story elements (since this is only part one of a planned trilogy). 13 years ago, married photographers Victor (Leslie Odom Jr, One Night in Miami) and Sorenne (Tracey Graves, On Ten) were visiting Haiti when a devastating earthquake struck the city. Victor escaped unharmed, but Sorenne was gravely injured. She survived just long enough to give birth to their daughter, Angela.
Flash-forward to Victor raising a 13-year-old teenager on his own, with said teenager testing her dad’s limits by pleading to be allowed to study with a friend after school. Victor gives in; Angela’s a good kid, and he trusts her to behave.
However, 13-year-olds don’t let their parents – even protective, loving dads – in on all their secrets. Angela (Lidya Jewett, Good Girls) used the study session story as a cover for something much more sinister. You could say the devil made her do it, or maybe just normal teenage hormones. Whatever the cause, Angela decides to try and connect with the spirit world and speak to her dead mom. (Obviously, this girl’s never watched a horror movie in her young life.)
Angela and her BFF Katherine (Olivia O’Neill) disappear into the woods after school and go missing. Angela’s desperate dad and Katherine’s very religious and equally upset parents, Miranda (Jennifer Nettles) and Tony (Norbert Leo Butz), along with dozens of cops, worried friends, and neighbors, search high and low for the girls but only recover a few of their possessions from the woods.
When the girls are ultimately discovered, their parents are shocked to discover that while the kids were gone for three days, Angela and Katherine believe they were only out in the woods for a few hours.
Creepy images flick across the screen during much of this opening act, which, as it turns out, is the most intriguing segment of the film. A few effective jump scares in the first act seem to promise there are many more to come…a promise the film breaks as act two unexpectedly takes a turn to horror’s campy side.
Once it’s obvious that what’s gotten into the girls isn’t going to be fixed with modern medicine or even a talented psychiatrist, Victor’s helpful neighbor/occasional Karen/failed nun who’s now a nurse, Paula (Ann Dowd, The Handmaid’s Tale), suggests it’s time to reach out to a woman with up-close-and-personal experience dealing with the Devil. Dun dun duuun! Enter Chris MacNeil, played by Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn, who returns to the role 50 years after starring in the original The Exorcist.
I’d love to say that this project is worthy of Ellen Burstyn’s return, but I’d be lying. It’s fantastic to have Burstyn and the character Chris MacNeil back in the fold, but the story doesn’t do her re-entry into the franchise justice. The girls’ possession has a direct connection to Regan MacNeil’s possession, yet adding Chris to the mix only serves to spotlight the script’s major weakness: there are too many players.
In addition to the parents, the two girls, and the incredibly helpful, Johnny-on-the-spot neighbor, act two introduces Catholic priest Father Maddox (E.J. Bonilla), who talks a good game but isn’t the most dependable demon-fighter. Baptist Pastor Don Revans (Raphael Sbarge) guides Katherine’s family’s church, and while he’s out of his league, he soldiers through in the face of foul-mouthed – and foul-smelling – demonic teens. Victor’s good friend Stuart (Danny McCarthy) just happens to be a Pentecostal preacher, and he brings in Doctor Beehibe (Okwui Okpokwasili), a spiritualist and root doctor.
Narrowing the focus to Victor and Angela would have made for a much more intense, compelling story. Instead, screenwriter Peter Sattler and writer/director David Gordon Green go the more the better route. The Exorcist depended on two Catholic priests to banish Pazuzu. With twice as many possessions, The Exorcist: Believer more than doubles the number of experts (if you can call them that) and branches out from the Catholic exorcism ritual to include other spiritual equivalents. This everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach only succeeds in watering down the overall impact of the face-off between good and evil.
Few of the characters feel fully fleshed out, but that’s due to the script and not the performances. The acting’s terrific all around, with the two young actors who play possessed BFFs – Lidya Jewett and Olivia O’Neill – delivering incredibly impressive performances, even when covered in heavy makeup. They lived up to Linda Blair’s performance, and it’s obvious they gave their all in trying to scare the bejesus out of the audience.
Many of the creepiest and most effective scenes are teased in the trailers, lessening the scare factor once they show up in the film. Sadly, unlike the original, The Exorcist: Believer won’t keep you up at night or force you to sleep with a light on. Pazuzu was a nightmare-inducing presence in The Exorcist, but it’s doubtful he’ll plague your dreams after taking in a screening of The Exorcist: Believer.
GRADE: C
MPAA Rating: R for language, disturbing images, sexual references, and some violent content
Step behind the scenes and into the happiest place on Earth with season two of Behind the Attraction. The Disney+ series takes fans inside Disney theme parks and pulls back the curtain on popular rides and attractions.
Season one explored the Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, it’s a small world, and Space Mountain. The upcoming second season will feature Imagineers who designed Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Indiana Jones Adventure. Plus, the new season will explore EPCOT, Disney Parks’ foods, and the Nighttime Spectaculars.
Criminal Minds‘ Paget Brewster narrates and executive producer Brian Volk-Weiss directs. Additional executive producers include The Nacelle Company’s Ian Roumain, Benjamin J. Frost, and Cisco Henson, as well as Seven Bucks Productions’ Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia, Brian Gewirtz, and Frankie Chiapperin.
Froy Gutierrez as “Ryan” and Madelaine Petsch as “Maya” in ‘The Strangers Trilogy,’ a Lionsgate release (Photo Credit: John Armour for Lionsgate)
Director Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger) is revisiting The Strangers and its creepy masked home invader/killers with a new trilogy. Lionsgate unveiled the first three photos from The Strangers Trilogy a week ahead of Harlin and producer Courtney Solomon (Cake) hosting a Q&A panel at the New York Comic Con.
The panel will take place on October 12th from 3-4pm ET in Room 405 at the Javits Center. Harlin and Solomon will talk about all things The Stranger and their experiences making the new trilogy.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 stars Riverdale‘s Madelaine Petsch and Cruel Summer‘s Froy Gutierrez. Harlin directs from a screenplay by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland. The trilogy’s produced by Alastair Burlingham, Mark Canton, Charlie Dombek, and Christopher Milburn.
Lionsgate offers this description of Chapter 1: “Madelaine Petsch stars as a young woman starting a new life with her fiancé. Suddenly, during a road trip stop in a remote vacation rental in the woods, they become the prey of a mysterious gang of masked strangers who attack without warning or reason. What begins as a fight to stay alive becomes one woman’s journey of courage and cunning in this horror series bridging three compelling films.”
In a recent interview with EW, director Harlin confirmed he’s a fan of the 2008 horror film starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman. Harlin also revealed his new films aren’t remakes or reboots, but rather they’re a trilogy based on the original film. Fans can expect Chapter 1 to be “close to the original movie in its set-up of a young couple in an isolated environment in a house and a home invasion happening for random reasons.”
One aspect of the story Harlin refused to change was the masks donned by the Strangers. “The masks in The Strangers are not like the Batsuit or something that evolves over years,” said Harlin to EW. “To us, the Strangers are the Strangers, and I, as an audience member, wanted to see them just the way they were in the original film.”
The Strangers Trilogy is targeting a 2024 release.
Madelaine Petsch as Maya in ‘The Strangers: Chapter 1’ (Photo Credit: John ArmourA scene from ‘Chapter 1’ (Photo Credit: John Armour)
