Latest news with #vampire
Gizmodo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
We Almost Lived in a Timeline Where ‘Morbius' Was Made by ‘Midsommar' Director Ari Aster
Marvel's perpetually delayed Blade movie, which took on new life as the costuming for Ryan Coogler's Sinners, may never see the light of day. But it's worth remembering we did already get a vampire movie centered on a Marvel character: a certain Dr. Michael Morbius. Midsommar and Hereditary director Ari Aster has now confirmed that at one point, he was asked to direct the Spider-Man spin-off movie, and the mind reels at what might have been. In a recent interview on Semafor's Mixed Signals podcast, Aster, after initially struggling to pronounce the film's name, revealed that Morbius was indeed the project he was invited by Marvel to direct. (Technically, Morbius wasn't part of the MCU; it was part of Sony's web of films adjacent to Spider-Man that didn't actually feature the character.) On paper, hiring Aster, the director behind A24's aforementioned modern horror classics, sounds promising, given the inherent horror in any vampire film. When Semafor's Max Welltani lamented the missed opportunity, noting how Morbius—as directed by Daniel Espinosa—didn't perform well at the box office (it did OK), Aster responded to the what-if in kind, saying, 'We could've added it to my list.' "I feel like I shouldn't say. Should I?"@maxwelltani asks director Ari Aster about a rumor that he was asked to do a Marvel movie on Mixed Signals from Semafor Media: — Semafor (@semafor) July 18, 2025Famously, the studio took the bait that Morbius' internet infamy meant fans must have a genuine craving for morbin' despite the film's sucky opening weekend box office returns. Regardless, the Jared Leto method-acted film showing a pulse for organic online fanfare resulted in Morbius returning to theaters thanks to all the memes. But while the combination of going viral and an unexpectedly sexy evil Matt Smith might not have been enough for cinematic greatness, well—congratulations, Marvel, you got tricked into releasing a vampire movie. While Sony would go on to blame the children (and critics) for being wrong about its Spider-Man franchise building sans Peter Parker, Espinosa took Morbius' bad reviews in stride in a 2022 interview. 'Look, I have a lot of self-hatred so I have a lot of criticism of my own work,' Espinosa told Insider. 'I'm always trying to focus on being better. But I am also proud of what I do. There are parts in all of my movies that I'm really proud of.' In a separate interview with Uproxx, Espinosa was asked how much of Morbius was actually his. 'I think that I work at my best if I get a lot of decision power,' Espinosa said. 'But, in these movies, they're big movies that have a lot of people's interest. It's different processes every time.' While Espinosa didn't directly respond or implicate any studio executives, he did provide insight into what retrospectively seems to be a narrow escape for Aster regarding his association with Morbius. Bullet, or in this case, wooden stake, dodged. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Geek Girl Authority
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Girl Authority
THE LIBRARIANS: THE NEXT CHAPTER Recap: (S01E09) And the Feast of the Vampir
With their six months winding down, the Belgrade team on The Librarians: The Next Chapter has very little time to hit some bucket list items before returning to their mundane lives. In 'And the Feast of the Vampir,' Connor (Bluey grabs Charlie (Jessica Green) for a fun little day trip to the original vampire story town, Kisiljevo. Seriously, look it up. RELATED: Catch up with our recap of the previous The Librarians: The Next Chapter episode, 'And the Hangover From Hell' Things get complicated when he finds an actual vampire, even more so when he gets bitten. And there's also the matter of some vampire hunters in town, and Lysa (Olivia Morris) putting the castle up for sale in Belgrade. Charlie feels bad when she loses track of him. Guardians gotta guard, y'know. Meanwhile, Vikram (Callum McGowan) acts a bit giddy when he cracks open his vampire-fighting arsenal. We're always learning new things about the team on The Librarians: The Next Chapter . Image Credit: Aleksandar Letic The Librarians: The Next Chapter, 'And the Feast of the Vampir' A man walks through a foggy, medieval-looking town at dusk. Spooky music plays as he climbs some stone stairs and enters a dark tunnel. A couple approaches him, fangs gleaming in the moonlight. They caution him that it's dangerous to be out after dark in this town. The man runs away and stumbles, falling to the ground. A man holding an axe stands in front of him. Axe guy warns the couple that they probably shouldn't be out either. The couple tries to run, but the axe guy isn't alone, and his team catches them. Facing the sharp end of the axe, the fanged man sputters that it's all a joke and spits out his fake fangs. The team is disgusted and lets the couple run home. The leader reminds them that the festival has just begun. They know there's a real vampire around. They plan to find him. At the Annex, Charlie and Vikram are cataloging artifacts. Vikram finds it boring, insisting they should be out fighting evildoers. Lysa and Connor carry more artifacts in. Some of them need to be stored in the Restricted Section, where the most dangerous ones are kept, secured with failsafes. Vikram insists on personally delivering an item to the Main Library, leaving the others to wonder at the fact that their six months are almost over. RELATED: TV Review: The Librarians: The Next Chapter Season 1 Lysa's expecting a broker to come see her about selling the castle. Connor and Charlie promise to stay out of the way during the walk-through. Lysa offers Charlie a position as her head of security when her IPO launches. A little later, Connor creeps into the Annex when it's empty. He's about to activate the magic door when Charlie catches him. He invites her to come with him. Kisiljevo Vampir Festival They arrive in Kisiljevo, Serbia, for their Vampire Festival. Connor explains that this is the birthplace of vampire mythology. They had the first recorded sighting of a vampire in the 1700s. Before Dracula became famous as a fictionalized character in the 1800s, newspapers reported that a farmer named Petar Blagojević died, was buried, then walked into his house, demanding a new pair of shoes from his wife. Allegedly, the town dug up his body the next day and dealt with it, putting the vampire's existence to an end. Connor reveals that he wrote a paper hypothesizing that Petar survived. He based it on a series of deaths that fit a pattern. His Petar paper resulted in his dismissal from Stuttgart. Getting into the spirit of the festival, he and Charlie shop around and pose for photos. As they start towards home, Charlie points out that finding Petar would be mud in the eye of the academics who laughed him out of teaching, forcing them to admit he was right and let him back in. Connor admits the thought had occurred to him. RELATED: Olivia Morris Shares How The Librarians: The Next Chapter Hooked Her From Page One Someone watches them from a distance as Charlie gets a text from Mrs. Astolat (Caroline Loncq). Before they go, Charlie decides she needs another bloody (cherry-flavored) snowcone. Connor continues on his own. He catches sight of the watcher and follows. At the base of a castle wall, he sees a cloaked figure transform into smoke and flash to the top of the embankment. He immediately drops his bag and starts climbing the embankment — how many things has he climbed this season? — but when he gets to the top, the cloaked figure startles him and he falls backwards, landing hard on the ground far below, not moving. Needs Sharpening Charlie arrives at the Annex looking for Connor and finds Vikram. She tells him about losing Connor in Kisiljevo at the Vampir Festival. Vikram's shocked that they went to Visiljevo without proper vampire-fighting tools. He opens up a chest of weaponry and talismans. He and Charlie gear up and head back to Kisiljevo. Upstairs in the castle, Lysa meets with the broker. The broker is determined to spin the castle's issues as benefits. Lysa looks uncertain. Image Credit: Aleksandar Letic In Kisiljevo, Connor drinks a red drink from a glass held to his mouth as he wakes from unconsciousness. The man helping him is the man from the first scene who ran from the fake vampires. Connor jumps to his feet. The man tries to calm him, explaining the drink is just to restore his electrolytes. He introduces himself as Petar (Pavle Jerinic). Connor's phone is broken, so he can't call anyone. RELATED: Read our Foundation recaps Petar Blagojević Connor realizes Petar is the Petar, Petar Blagojević. He gets very excited. Petar sits him down and explains that after Connor fell, the only way to save him was to bite him and turn him. Connor panics, feeling his neck. He finds the bite site, but there's only one puncture wound. Petar points out that he only has one fang. In the Victorian era, some people believed taking out a vampire's tooth would cure them. Petar assures him it didn't work. He says, 'It cured the cure.' Charlie and Vikram arrive in Kisiljevo via magic door. They walk through the keep, discussing the situation for a while, until two large men put bags over their heads and carry them away. In his apartment, Petar explains that when they took his one tooth, it prevented him from recirculating his blood. With both teeth, he could feed without changing the victim. With only one tooth, everyone he bites gets turned. However, Connor's change isn't complete until the first nightfall. Connor jumps at the chance to get back to the Library and find a way to reverse the process. Petar reminds him that it's still day outside. They'll both burn up if they're exposed to sunlight. He says that without his other tooth, there's nothing to be done. Connor asks him what happened to his tooth. Tested Charlie and Vikram are debagged, tied to chairs back-to-back, in a large-pillared crypt of sorts. The vampire-hunting team surrounds them. They think Vikram is a vampire and Charlie is his familiar. Charlie and Vikram offer to take a test, like standing in sunlight, to prove that he isn't a vampire. The hunters scoff, referencing Blade , The Vampire Diaries, and Twilight as examples of daywalkers. RELATED: Dean Devlin Dishes on The Librarians: The Next Chapter 's Magical Homecoming In a car completely covered with newspaper sheets to block the sun except for a peephole on the windshield, Petar and Connor drive to retrieve Petar's tooth. Petar warns Connor that he shouldn't share his situation with his friends. When Petar changed, he hurt the people he cared about because he couldn't control himself. Petar tells Connor that he traded his tooth for safe passage across a bridge. Connor wonders who would take that trade, then realizes they're going to meet a troll. While the vampire hunters confer, Charlie wonders why Vikram isn't bothered by Lysa selling the castle and didn't react when she told him Lysa offered her a job. She asks him if he knows something about the team's future that she doesn't. He doesn't answer. The hunters return. Charlie demands to use the washroom. While she's gone, the lead hunter stuffs a bulb of garlic into Vikram's mouth. At the washroom, Charlie knocks out her guard. Trolled The troll interrupts Connor and Petar's conversation about life as a vampire. His heart isn't into his threatening posturing, though. He complains that no one uses his bridge anymore, so he's out of practice. Also, he lost his phone, so he can't even transition to online trolling. Connor offers his broken phone in exchange for information on the vampire's fang. The troll says someone building a vampire memorabilia collection stole it from him. Connor gives him the phone and jumps in the car. He tells Petar the tooth is in Kisiljevo and to drive before the troll realizes the phone doesn't work. In the keep, Connor jumps in with a tour and asks about the tooth. The guide says the collection doesn't have one anymore. Connor looks closely at the case and finds a card reading, 'Item removed for research by F. Carsen of the Metropolitan Library.' He realizes the tooth is in the Library. As he leaves, Charlie grabs him. RELATED: 5 Great Books About Libraries and Librarians She's focused on saving Vikram and doesn't give him a chance to explain. When she crosses a sunlit room, he hesitates and goes in the other direction. Charlie tries to stop him from leaving. Connor sees a couple of the vampire-hunters and gets their attention. He apologizes and runs as the hunters approach Charlie, and she prepares to fight. She quickly dispatches them. Connor finds the magic door and ducks through. When Charlie catches up, he's deactivated it. The Main Library Connor finds the entry for the vampire fang. As he's memorizing the location, Lysa happens to pass by with her broker. She sees him set off for the Main Library access. Image Credit: Aleksandar Letic In the crypt, Vikram engages the lead hunter in conversation, noticing Charlie sneak in a door and take out one of the guards. Charlie knocks out the leader, too, then frees Vikram. She tells Vikram about Connor shutting the magic door. They head for the magic door that's not magic at the moment. Without the magic door, they need another way to escape the hunters. Petar jumps out and offers to drive them somewhere. Connor finds the Main Library. Excalibur catches him. Although suspicious at first, Connor's obvious awe wins him over, and he directs him to the fang's location. RELATED: On Location: The Belgrade Fortress on The Librarians: The Next Chapter In Kisiljevo, Petar, Vikram, and Charlie get turned around and lost. When they stop to orient themselves, the vampire hunters surround them. Connor enters the restricted section to retrieve Petar's tooth. That sets off an alarm, and a suit of armor comes to life. It tests Connor with three riddles. Connor gets the first two right, but Lysa's timely arrival helps with the third. They head back to the Annex to use the magic door. Connor forgets to grab his cloak. In the Neck of Time They arrive in Kisiljevo just in time to hear the tour guide announce an unscheduled vampire beheading ceremony that's about to happen in the courtyard. Connor realizes he's got no cloak, so the sunlight in the courtyard will burn him. He and Lysa split up. She distracts the vampire hunters until Charlie's able to get free. Connor creeps around the side, sticking to the shadows, and gives Petar his tooth. RELATED: Read our Leverage: Redemption recaps He asks Petar to bite him to reverse the change. Petar draws his attention to the lead hunter who is about to behead Vikram. Connor rushes to save Vikram, whose pillory is in direct sunlight. When the sunlight has no effect on him, he turns to Petar for an explanation. Petar laughs maniacally, now transformed into a fully evil vampire. Image Credit: Aleksandar Letic Petar Blagojević, Again, But Not for Long Darkness falls over the keep. Petar's eyes flash red as he removes his hood. He rises into the air and thanks Connor for helping restore his powers. He grabs the lead vampire hunter to feed on. Connor offers himself, asking Petar to turn him into a vampire. When Petar goes to bite, he begins to foam at the mouth. The team realizes it's a failsafe. The Library placed a capsule of something poisonous to vampires inside the tooth in case it was ever used again to hurt someone. RELATED: Read our recaps of The Librarians: The Next Chapter Petar flashes into ashes. Vikram retrieves the tooth. The tour guide gets his group back on schedule. Back at the Annex, Charlie patches Connor up while Lysa calls the broker and cancels the sale. Charlie confronts Vikram about their conversation earlier. She tells him that he's stuck with her as his Guardian for a long time. Vikram shoots a quick look at Anya's portrait. He begins to say something to Charlie about going somewhere, then changes his mind and changes the topic to food. New episodes of The Librarians: The Next Chapter air on TNT on Mondays at 9 pm ET. New TV Shows This Week (July 13 – 19) Diana lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada, where she invests her time and energy in teaching, writing, parenting, and indulging her love of all Trek and a myriad of other fandoms. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. You can also find her writing at The Televixen, Women at Warp, TV Fanatic, and TV Goodness.
Associated Press
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Unrated director's cut of The Kiss of A Vampire now streaming on TUBI
The giallo horror film was an official selection and semi-finalist at the Cannes World Film Festival. 'This is horror for people who like their vampires not just deadly, but incredibly romantic.'— Richard Douglas Jensen HUNTSVILLE, AR, UNITED STATES, July 8, 2025 / / -- The most anticipated horror movie of the year is now streaming on TUBI. The Kiss of A Vampire is the tale of a mentally fragile young woman who marries a handsome doctor, only to discover her handsome and seductive husband is a 1,200-year-old vampire with insatiable blood lust. British actor Philip Hulford stars as Wessex, the sensual, romantic and terrifying vampire. It is his first starring role in a feature film. Saporah Bonnette, who made her film debut in Poverty Row Pictures' Monster Grizzly in 2024, has her first starring role as Carol, a woman child who has spent most of her life in psychiatric hospitals. She marries Wessex in haste and, when she realizes her husband is a vampire, has to make a life-altering choice. Should she run from Wessex or join him in an eternity of romance and blood-letting. Hollywood rising star Emma Hayley Jensen plays Hera. A nun defrocked for romancing her fellow nuns, Hera becomes a vicious and effective vampire slayer determined to kill Wessex – and a fallen priest named Petrov. Legendary New York playwright and stage actress Bambi Everson plays the Witch, a tour de force performance by an actress of singular talent and acting skill. Produced by Alabama-based Poverty Row Pictures, The Kiss of A Vampire, was shot in Guntersville and Birmingham, Alabama. Writer, producer director Richard Douglas Jensen – who also stars as Petrov, the fallen priest – said this is the most ambitious – and expensive – film ever produced by Poverty Row Pictures. 'We wanted to do a horror film that was over the top, and nothing is more over the top than the Italian-style 'giallo' horror. So, we took every element of 'giallo' and we put them all in the movie,' Jensen said. 'This is horror for people who like their vampires not just deadly, but incredibly seductive and romantic.' Laden with gory, graphic violence and heady romance, The Kiss of A Vampire was an official selection and semi-finalist at the Cannes World Film Festival. Critics have praised the edgy sensuality of the film and the superb cinematography by Sterling Brown, Anna Khristoforova and FX cinematographer Steven Coleman. The Kiss of A Vampire is distributed worldwide by ITN Distribution. Poverty Row Pictures +1 256-457-2225 email us here Richard Douglas Jensen Visit us on social media: Instagram Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
Wall Street Journal
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
Get Ready for the $80 Popcorn Bucket
A superhero's open mouth. A wearable baby carrier. A vampire's sarcophagus. Moviegoers are putting their hands in weird places to get their popcorn.
The Guardian
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Moonlight Peaks: your chance to live as a tiny vegan vampire
What if you were a tiny, vegan vampire? That's the question posed by Moonlight Peaks, the gen Z-coded, achingly TikTok-ready supernatural life sim. Inspired by the popularity of 'cosy games' such as Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, Moonlight Peaks drapes you in the cape of Dracula's daughter, who has fled her father's corpse-ridden home to start a new, peaceful life. Soon, she settles among werewolves and witches in the supernatural farming town of Moonlight Peaks, where she grows crops and rears animals instead of subsisting on the blood of innocents. Both cosy and creepy, the game has you creating your own plant-based blood substitutes, befriending the town's residents and fixing a whole host of problems left in daddy Dracula's wake. While farming and decorating make the core of the game, its creators tell me there are a surprising number of story-led quests to find. 'We joke that you're the town therapist,' says Mia Boas, art director, 'because you arrive and have to help everyone solve their family issues.' From calming worried werewolves to quelling quarrelling mermaids and even flirting with the grim reaper – plus flower-arranging and embroidery minigames - developer Little Chicken promises there will be more than just perfecting your haunted homestead. 'We decided it should be a cute and cosy experience, through and through,' says Yannis Bolman, CEO game director. 'When we first started out, we had a mechanic where you could bite every bystander. It just felt off, because you're trying to make friends with these people, and then you're biting them? It just felt really weird.' Like any social-media-friendly life sim, Moonlight Peaks has a range of romance options for players to sink their teeth into. 'Once you become romantically interested, you can go on dates like stargazing, marshmallow roasting … And if you do well enough, you can get married,' says Bolman. 'The ultimate step is, you can turn them into a vampire, too. But you're biting them with consent, of course. They'll ask you to bite them.' In an adorable touch, finding your fanged soulmate turns your home's single coffin into a double. Bolman and Boas tell me that fan feedback has helped guide the direction of the game, which is already attracting an excitable – and predominantly female - fanbase. With a vibrant art style that looks surprisingly slick considering the size of its team, Moonlight Peaks looks set to fill a Twilight-shaped gap in the sim market. Moonlight Peaks is out on PC in 2026
