'It: Chapter Two" Indefinitely Delayed After Bill Skarsgard Accidentally Eats a Child

The most anticipated horror movie of 2019 has been delayed indefinitely after a grisly on-set accident left a poor child half-eaten.

It was a normal Monday for actor Bill Skarsgard, known for his roles in Hulu’s Castle Rock and 2017’s It, who was dressed head to toe in the already iconic attire of Pennywise the clown. Like every day of the last several months, Skarsgard was intimidating smaller adults and children on the set of It: Chapter Two, with and without the cameras rolling.

Skarsgard, as stated by director Andres Muschietti, has been in “full-on method acting mode” since shooting for the sequel began.

“It’s crazy, yeah. The first film made so much money that Bill (Skarsgard) sort of had this problem, this internal crisis, about acting in the second movie,” says Muschietti. “He didn’t know how to top his performance and continue scaring audiences around the globe. He approached me in the Pennywise apparel - and this is well before we started filming, so I have no idea how he managed that - and he convinced me that a method approach was what the sequel needed in order to be truly scary.”

Bill Hader runs from a crazed Bill Skarsgard on the set of It: Chapter Two

Skarsgard’s dedication to the role crossed a line in the early hours of Monday morning when the actor reportedly ate the lower half of Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things), who reprises his role of young Richie Tozier in the film.

“Yeah, he just kind of started eating him,” actor Bill Hader, who plays Tozier’s adult counterpart, told us over the phone. “The Duffer brothers called Finn to prank him with a Stranger Things cancellation, and he commented about how scary it was before he knew that they were just yanking his chain. (Bill) Skarsgard really just popped up behind us - I guess he was eavesdropping or whatever - and he grabbed Finn and said, he said, “I’ll show you something really scary.” Then he grabbed a mouthful of shinbone.”

Hader went on to say the encounter was “The scariest thing I’ve ever seen. And I was on the set of Tropic Thunder with Tom Cruise.”

Skarsgard has released an official apology to Finn Wolfhard, who is expected to make a miraculous recovery, claiming the incident to be a “complete method accident.” It’s yet to be determined if Wolfhard plans to press charges.

The accidental eating of Wolfhard's lower-half has halted the production of It: Chapter Two indefinitely, much to the chagrin of the fans who have anxiously awaited the sequel since September of 2017. The original film out-grossed every horror film in history at the box office, and the sequel was expected to put up equally high numbers.

I guess we’ll have to wait a little while longer to see how it fares.

Christmas Evil (1980) and the Holiday Spirit

Christmas slashers are a beloved subgenre that horror fans tend to gravitate towards throughout the holiday season. Films such as Black Christmas (1974), which frequents the upper half of “greatest slasher movies” lists, and Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) dominate the month of December, but it’s a less popular slasher flick that truly understands the spirit of Christmas.

Lewis Jackson’s Christmas Evil (also titled You Better Watch Out and Terror in Toyland) was released in 1980 during the slasher craze. Unlike many of the films that predate it or came after its release, however, Jackson’s killer is the empathetic central character of this story. 33 years prior to the main events of the film, young Harry Stadling sits joyfully on the stairs with his brother, Philip, and their mom, watching as Santa Claus delivers presents and helps himself to the milk and cookies that the Stadlings have left for him. Harry, eager to believe in the fantastic, cannot be persuaded by Philip that the Santa in their living room was simply their father in disguise. Harry leaves his bed to sit on the stairs, attempting to once more catch a glimpse of Santa Claus, only to discover that Santa was, in fact, his own dad.

Now an adult, Harry (Brandon Maggart) has never quite healed from the heartbreak of that evening. All he ever wanted from life was something to believe in and for someone to believe with- a wish that was never granted by his younger brother (Jeffrey DeMunn). He’s an outcast among his peers at the toy factory in which he works, but he takes the toy business very seriously. Away from work, Harry is obsessed with becoming the real Santa Claus: His apartment is filled with holiday decor, he sleeps in a Santa outfit, and he spies on the local children, marking their behavior on a list, just as St. Nicholas would. On Christmas Eve, Harry takes it upon himself to deliver gifts to all the good boys and girls, and slash the parents who would dare ruin the holiday.

Christmas Evil isn’t without tension or bloodshed, but those things aren’t the homestead of what makes this film so special. By focusing primarily on Harry as a character, the audience has empathy for him and what he seeks to accomplish, even if it’s deranged and creepy. There’s a twinkle in his eye when he spots a well-behaved child, and while that may prove sadistic in another horror film, it’s quite innocent here. Harry, fueled by his own disappointment, wants to give these children something to believe in other than the cruel world around them. He wants to provide the sense of magic that was robbed from him during his lonely youth.

His mental anguish drives him to commit terrible, reprehensible atrocities such as killing bullying adults outside of a church on Christmas Eve, but on the same evening, he delivers a van (decked out with sleigh art on its sliding door) filled with presents to sick children in a hospital. He’s complex, and so is the film he belongs to. This is a horror film that celebrates youthful innocence and punishes those who take it away. It’s a slasher flick, but even more so, it’s a Christmas movie. It’s a slow-burning character study that gives us a glimpse into the mind of a madman, while also showcasing the genuinely pure spirit of Christmas that he abides by.

If that very same spirit is what you seek this December, I encourage you to give this largely ignored film a shot. You’ll be frightened by the mind of a deranged man, but you’ll be inspired by the goodness in his heart. What more could you want from a Christmas film?

'98.6%' Short Film Review: Compatibility is Delicious

Cindy Maples as Mel

I've heard that dating is complicated. I wouldn't know anything about that, since I'm in an exclusive relationship with staying home and shoving junk food in my face until I pass out on my couch of sadness- but I digress. When you're in the awkward stage of choosing a partner, compatibility is key. It's everything. If sparks don't fly, you might as well be sitting across from a brick wall with wads of Juicy Fruit from 1964 stuck all over it. Or a human-sized cold sore.

When sparks do fly, however, it can be magical. I know that sounds like the sort of cliche you'd find in the diary of some teenager who is hopelessly in love for the first time, but it's quite true. With the right person, everything clicks into place. Those awkward complications become an effortless success. In 98.6%, the new short film from indie darling Cindy Maples, that effortlessness is on full display as a potential couple, matched at the compatibility suggested by the film's title, return from their first date. The chemistry between them is palpable, as both characters appear to be like-minded, sweet, and respectful of each other's wishes.

But rarely are first impressions accurate.

Halfway through the short, the blossoming romance takes a dark turn- one that you may expect, but will likely find ways to surprise you regardless. That darkness, though, does not come without a welcome dose of humor, especially in regard to lead character Mel (Cindy Maples, also in a starring role), whose nonchalant reactions to danger are amusing and worthy of chuckles. Maples proves to have an impeccable funny bone, and her short greatly benefits from that sense of humor and self-awareness.

More importantly, 98.6% takes a feminist approach to storytelling. Too many times, especially in the horror genre, have women been hopeless victims, relying on a bit of good fortune to defend themselves, or rather, they've been forced to exhaust every bit of their bodily limits in order to survive. Especially in recent years, "final girls" have evolved into something more capable and badass, and Mel is no exception. While she doesn't necessarily fall under the label of a final girl, she's appropriately conditioned to take care of herself instead of being a damsel in distress, and she does so with a grin on her face.

Where the short may lack production value, it more than compensates with the chemistry between Mel and Bradley (Rusty James), the established tone and direction by Maples, and the infectious fun that she appears to be having in front of and behind the camera. It's a simple little feature, but it's the kind that makes you want to gather your friends and shoot a horror film. Fun is infectious. Give yourself over to it.

Interested? Lucky you! 98.6% is available to watch for free on YouTube.

Halloween (2018) Review: Jamie Lee Curtis Shines in Disappointing Sequel

You don’t like that title, do you? I assure you, I feel the same way.

Much like last Fall (or close enough to it), my excitement for a big horror release has been in overdrive. Last year because of Andy Muschietti’s big-screen adaptation of It, and now because of Halloween. Like all of you, I’m a hardcore fan of John Carpenter’s original film and I grew up loving the sequels that followed, however lackluster some of the installments may be. Despite glaring flaws, there are likable qualities in *almost* every entry of the series, and David Gordon Green’s new sequel is no exception. With that being said, Halloween 2018 is an underwhelming experience that fails to capitalize on its brilliant central idea.

It’s been 40 years since Michael Myers terrorized babysitters in the town of Haddonfield. Because of the trauma she’s been forced to endure, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) has come face to face with personal demons and devastating losses since surviving Halloween night all those years ago. She’s gone through two marriages, lost her daughter to Child Protective Services, and kept to herself in an isolated, heavily-protected home. Her only daughter (Judy Greer) resents her, which has created complications between herself and her teenage granddaughter (Andi Matichak). She’s prayed every night since Michael Myers was captured that he would escape confinement so she can kill him, and while Michael is being transferred the night before Halloween, her wish comes true. The Shape escapes the bus and once again terrorizes Haddonfield, Illinois on the titular holiday, leaving Laurie and local law enforcement to hunt him down and put an end to the decades-long nightmare.

The new entry ignores every sequel to its 1978 counterpart, and since the Halloween franchise is unabashedly inconsistent with its continuity, asking fans to temporarily forget that those films exist is completely fair. The issue with that, though, is that Green and his co-writers, Danny McBride and Jeff Fradley, remind us of those sequels constantly. Fan service was to be expected of course, but much of Halloween 2018 plays like a greatest hits collection of sequels that were retconned. Choosing to ignore those films was an unspoken promise to deliver something different, but, in large part, Green and company have given us more of the same.

The central story had the potential for greatness, especially since Jamie Lee Curtis graces the film with a phenomenal, career-best performance as the flawed-yet-totally-badass heroine, but there are so many moving pieces around it that the execution feels unfocused. Much of the sequel, actually, plays like a straightforward slasher flick while Michael roams Haddonfield, killing multiple people at random. Many of those kills are off-screen, but there are flashes of brutality in the moments we are shown. Some of it works, but a lot of it doesn’t. Green moves from kill to kill without building much atmosphere or tension, and even though he wraps it in a pretty package with tracking shots and moments of visual flair, there is seldom a moment when he forces the viewer to feel what’s happening.

With rare exceptions, the humor of this entry tends to get in the way of any glimpses of tension. It’s surprisingly funny at times (a young character named Julian is legitimately hilarious), but that humor should have taken a back seat during the moments that we’re supposed to be afraid. Characters say and do things that are played for laughs during these otherwise intense scenes, and I found it disappointing that my entire theater was cracking up in a time that they should have been on the edge of their seat.

Aside from Laurie and the slightest bit of attachment to her family, the new characters here, especially the teens, are horrendous and annoying. They exist inside of your standard slasher stereotypes, and their sole purpose is to be murdered (which you’ll likely be begging for), but most of them die off-screen, and one of them wrongs Laurie’s granddaughter and is just never seen again. But I swear on everything- including the characters in Halloween: Resurrection and the other mostly-bad entries, this sequel features the absolute worst: Dr. Sartain. I am baffled as to how his character and the arc it culminates in made it into the final cut of the movie. There’s a late moment involving Sartain that made me shake my head and cuss under my breath. I looked at the exit, I can't lie. It’s awful.

It’s hardly a surprise that Halloween 2018 builds toward a crowd-pleasing finale, but by the time it reached these moments, I had already grown cold towards the annoyances. That’s not to say that the finale is bad in any way, just that it cannot save this sequel from mediocrity. Even the tremendous revamped score by John Carpenter, his son Cody, and Daniel Davies is utilized poorly. I’m genuinely glad that Michael Myers is back. I’m happy for Jamie Lee Curtis that she got to portray Laurie Strode in a way that truly adds to the legacy of that character. I’m even stoked that many fans seem to love this entry. It’s being labeled as the best sequel to Carpenter’s original, and for you, it may be.

As for me? It’s not even close.