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OUR TEAM Editor-in-Chief Galaxy Print Editor Art Director Sara Hope Kent Klarks Design and illustration Supervisor Ronald Garcia Design Manager Zerologhy Copy Editor Ethan Brehm
INSIDE OUR y UNIVERSE x a l a by G Hi friends and fans! Welcome back to another wonderful issue of SPO!LER!
Staff Writers The Greatest Writing Team in Our Universe Ethan Brehm Tom Tormey Matthew Mclachlan Vanessa Bellew Robert Napolitano David Grand Phuong Pham Natalie Reade Michelle Fontana Kim Koo Moses Gamer Social Media Manager Thor the all mighty Advertising Ads@SpoilerMagazine.com Sponsorship sponsorship@SpoilerMagazine.com Press Please send all press releases to: press@SpoilerMagazine.com Please send all review material to: review@SpoilerMagazine.com Subscriptions For all subscription enquiries please contact: sub@SpoilerMagazine.com Check out our website for details on how to get our DIGITAL EDITION Circulation Do you want this magazine at your local book store, comic book hangout, toy shop, or anywhere else for that matter? Let us know, we can make it happen. circulation@SpoilerMagazine.com SPOILER Magazine is published by Spoiler Media Magazine Publishing. Nothing in this magazine can be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher. Whilst every effort is made to ensure all information in the magazine is correct, details maybe subject to change. All photographic material is copyright to the relevant owner and appears with their kind permission. Visuals are used in a review context and no copyright infringement is intended. All rights reserved. SPOILER Magazine is printed in the USA SPOILER Magazine 7095 Hollywood Blvd Hollywood, California 90028 “Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening” - Galaxy
As you’ve noticed, we have the amazing William Zabka gracing our cover this month. Growing up in the ‘80s, I can remember the first time I saw The Karate Kid. It was about as cool as a movie could get: a killer story, great characters, and unique dynamics. And William’s character Johnny Lawrence was an antagonist for the ages; one of the early examples in modern cinema of a sympathetic villain—something so prevalent in Hollywood these days. I always had a soft spot for Johnny despite millions of fans looking at him as the bad guy. Maybe it was the fact that I could sense that, at his core, he was just an insecure teenager like the rest of us, and ultimately he was just trying to stand his ground and fight for his girl. But mostly, it was the man behind the character who drove Johnny’s heart and propelled many of us to see past that rough exterior to the depth underneath. William is an emblem of that nostalgic feeling we all get when we watch The Karate Kid. And fortunately, these past few years we’ve been given the gift of watching him reunite with his iconic character in the hit sequel series Cobra Kai, soon heading into its fourth season this December. Last year, MTV awarded the actor with the “Zero to Hero” trophy at their Greatest of All Time ceremony for the legacy of Johnny Lawrence and his redemption all these decades later. And don’t think we forgot about Halloween. While we didn’t want to focus entirely on the holiday, this issue is nevertheless packed with content to feed your fix during the spooky season. We highlight some of the best the horror genre has to offer across film, TV, and even comics. We have interviews from some of the cast of the upcoming Day of the Dead series and have re-released our ever-popular chat with Cassandra Peterson, aka Elvira. Also look forward to our anniversary issue next month, where we will celebrate our two years as a magazine with nominations for our inaugural SPO!LER Awards! Winners will be announced in our December issue. We hope you’re all out there going to conventions (they’re back!) and continuing to spread the word about our wonderful magazine. Please subscribe to us on our website and on our social media outlets for more news about the exciting things right around the corner! Thank you again for all your undying love and support!
Galaxy Galaxy EDITOR-IN-CHIEF @ComicConRadio september 2021|
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table of contents
FEATURES
58 William Zabka exclusive interview PHOTO BY BJOERN KOMMERELL
SPOILER MAGAZINE TABLE OF CONTENTS
the watch 98 Day of the Dead
102 Natalie Malaika 68 The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai Universe 112 Kristy Dawn Dinsmore
120 Morgan Holmstrom 26 Cassandra Peterson
126 Keenan Tracey
132 Daniel Doheny
the base
24 Simu Liu, Shang-Chi, And the Asian American Experience
82 at the movies 12 Rotten Tomatoes 22 Know Your Universes Everything You Need to Know About Cinematic Comic Book Universes 36 Horror Comic Crossovers Horror Icons That Never Met in the Movies But Did in the Comics 36 Halloween III Season of the Witch History Rectified 46 Jason Lives Friday the 13th Part VI A Franchise Perfected
140 Comic Book Review www.spoilermagazine.com | Follow us on Instagram: @SpoilerMedia
152 Back to the Theater? 156 Who Critiques the Critics?
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With fall TV kicking into high gear, fans are looking for another season of distraction and delight. Fortunately, networks and streamers are continuing to deliver high caliber content on a weekly basis. With plenty of new and old shows and movies arriving on our screens, it’s just a matter of keeping up and deciding what to watch! Rotten Tomatoes has polled over a thousand fans, asking them about their viewing habits, most anticipated new fall shows, and which returning favorites they are most excited to see. Here are a few highlights from the survey results: When asked about their viewing habits, 59% of respondents revealed that they tend to use streaming platforms or on demand TV to watch shows, while only 12% primarily watch network TV. Meanwhile, 29% watch a mixture of both. Despite the new variety of streaming services, fans once again named Netflix as the most popular streaming service, with 88% of respondents confirming they subscribe to the platform. Amazon Prime Video continued to be in second place, closely behind with 85% of fans confirming they have a subscription, and Disney+ in third place with 71%. A majority of fans (70% of respondents) confirmed that their viewing habits changed due to the pandemic and
66% of respondents shared that they were watching content more often. When asked the main reasons for picking their favorite shows, 89% of fans revealed that it’s based off of the show’s storyline, followed by the actors. The #1 returning show that viewers are looking forward to is The Witcher: Season 2, followed closely by The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: Season 4, and American Horror Story: Double Feature: Season 10. The #1 new show that viewers are most excited for is Hawkeye — but Dexter: New Blood, Star Wars: Visions, and Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back trail close behind. The blockbuster spectacle Dune was declared the #1 new fall streaming movie that fans are eager to watch, given Warner Bros.’ decision to release it dayand-date on HBO Max. Similarly, The Matrix Resurrections also cracked the top five alongside Netflix’s Red Notice. Stranger Things continued to dominate genre fandom, being picked as the most bingeable show for the second year in a row. It’s followed by other favorites like The Mandalorian, Breaking Bad, and Schitt’s Creek. Stranger Things was also named as fans’ favorite Netflix series, with superhero titles The Umbrella Academy and Marvel’s Daredevil topping the survey for a consecutive year as well. They were joined by popular newcomer The Queen’s Gambit.
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2021 FALL TV SURVEY WHICH RETURNING FALL TV SHOW ARE YOU MOST EXCITED ABOUT?
#2
#3 THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL: S4
#1
COBRA KAI: S4
#4
THE WITCHER: S2
#5
WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS: S3 AMERICAN HORROR STORY: S10 14 I
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WHICH NEW FALL TV SHOW ARE YOU MOST EXCITED ABOUT? #1
#2
#3
#4
#5
WHICH NEW FALL MOVIES ARE YOU MOST EXCITED ABOUT?
#1
#2 #3 THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS
RED NOTICE
DUNE #5
#4
CINDERELLA
BOB ROSS: HAPPY ACCIDENTS, BETRAYAL, & GREED september 2021|
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which show is the most bingeable?
stranger things
#1 #2
#3
the mandalorian
game of thrones
#4
#5
breaking bad
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schitt’s creek
which netflix series do you love the most? #2
#1
the queen’s gambit
#3 stranger things
marvel’s daredevil
#5 #4 the umbrella academy marvel’s jessica jones october 2021|
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BY PHUONG PHAM
has always been woefully underrepresented in mainstream media and we have definitely felt the impact. We make up a sizable population of the world but are decidedly absent from much of the most beloved movies and sitcoms. The Asian community made up about 28% of San Francisco’s population in 1990 and yet we are supposed to believe the Tanner family of Full House has only ever run into one Asian American? With all of this being the norm in the past, it becomes a momentous occasion when one of our own is cast in a leading role of the biggest film franchise of our generation. When Simu Liu, star of ShangChi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, was a struggling actor, he worked for a children’s birthday party company. However, when the “failed accountant”-turnedMarvel superhero would suit up for the kids, he typically was asked to
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portray Spider-Man. Why? In his own words, Liu recounted, “I’d dress up as Spider-Man, which has a weird foreshadowing to it. I’d be sure to keep my mask on, because I was Asian and Spider-Man wasn’t Asian.” As someone who has contributed to charitable costuming organizations, I’m lucky to have never been involved with an organization that dictated who I was able to portray based on my ethnicity. However, despite this I still cannot remember a time where I went to a convention and wasn’t accosted by someone saying how I would “make a great Ada Wong/ Mulan/Faith Connors/[insert Asian female character here].” From being told that his identity did not make him Avenger material to now having his identity be a crucial reason he became an Avenger is not just a big break for Asian Canadian actor Simu Liu, but a massive step forward for Asian representation in mainstream media.
Not only does Shang-Chi feature an all-Asian cast but it also does a decent job of portraying the Asian American experience. Shang-Chi met one of his closest friends, Katy (Awkwafina), another Asian American, while being bullied in high school due to his ethnicity and learning English as a second language. As recounted by ShangChi (who Katy knows as “Shaun”), when he was in high school a classmate referred to him as “Gangnam Style,” to which he replied, “I’m not Korean, moron.” While a Caucasian moviegoer might find this to be a new experience, virtually every Asian American has lived through some version of this situation. Being Vietnamese American, I can confirm such experiences were very standard when attending school in the United States. To this day, it does not particularly matter that I was born in Los Angeles; my classmates
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings/Marvel/Disney
It’s no secret that the asian american community
and, today, my peers have always seen me as a foreigner. And ShangChi perfectly conveys this ongoing struggle to outsiders who may be unfamiliar with its ubiquity. Although it was unintentional, this film could not have come out at a
better time. Following the pandemic and its rise in hate crimes against the Asian community, a Blockbuster film with an all-Asian cast serves as a beacon of hope during a time of civil unrest and rampant xenophobia. Not only are Asian Americans dealing with being marginalized in mainstream media but the past year has been wrought with the added anxiety of a pandemic that fostered negative stereotypes against the Asian community. I am sure I speak for many others like myself when I say that after over a year of walking around with pepper spray in my handbag, taking care to not go on walks by myself, and other precautionary measures, Shang-Chi isn’t just the hero the Avengers have been waiting for; he is the hero the Asian American community has been greatly anticipating. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is now playing in theaters.
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BY TOM TORMEY
screen in the spring of 2008. Today, its success and subsequent sequels may seem like a forgone conclusion, but that wasn’t true when the film was initially released. Marvel Studios was risking a lot on a relatively unknown character to mainstream audiences and a star that wasn’t exactly known for his bankability. Their risk paid off and the reward for both the studio and audiences was the birth of the 25-film (as of today) Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It may seem like the MCU is the lone cinematic universe due to its financial and critical prowess, and just overall dominance at both the box office and the discussions at the water cooler, but there are others. The concept of an interconnected universe of fictional characters is not a new idea for the big and small screens. Hanna-Barbera’s expanded universe has run through dozens of television shows and films, recently rebooted, starting with last year’s Scoob!, and then there’s the horror
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franchise that is the Conjuring universe and Kevin Smith’s View Askewniverse. But what makes the following cinematic universes even more unique is that they were born in comic books prior to their big screen debuts. The MCU is a global and cultural phenomenon. The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s unparalleled success was just as much a surprise for Iron Man’s director Jon Favreau as it was for critics and audiences alike. Favreau unwittingly became, in his own words, the “grandfather” of a cinematic universe. If he’s the grandfather, then Marvel Studios
Iron Man/Spider-Man/Marvel/Disney/Superman/The Flash/DC/Warner Bros./The Walking Dead/AMC Networks/(cover image): Thanos/Marvel/Disney
iron man made his way to the silver president Kevin Feige is undoubtedly its father. The MCU now spans four different phases across the big screen and now has trickled down to the small screen with entries on on the streaming service Disney+. 2019’s Avengers: Endgame sat atop the box office chart as the highestgrossing film of all time until this year when a theatrical re-release of James Cameron’s Avatar reclaimed the title. With the release of ShangChi last month, The Eternals in November, and the co-produced (more on that later) Spider-Man: No Way Home in December, the MCU is showing no signs of slowing down. The DC Extended Universe began in 2013 with the release of Man of Steel. Like the films themselves, the
etymology of the name is just as convoluted. Although the DCEU began in 2013, it wasn’t officially given its name until 2020. Fans had lovingly referred to Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman, and others as the DC Extended Universe since it was referenced as such by journalist Keith Staskiewicz in 2015 while covering the release of Batman v Superman for Entertainment Weekly. “Worlds of DC’’ was another name that was unofficially given to the DCEU for a brief period of time. In 2020, with the release of HBO MAX, the DCEU was finally granted an official name. The franchise’s hits (Man of Steel, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Shazam!) are fewer than its misses (Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey, WW84, Justice League), but the DC Extended Unverse is finally rebounding from its critical failures. The upcoming Flash film should be amazing with, not one, but two Batmen (Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton) in it, as should Dwayne Johnson’s first DCEU outing with Black Adam. But still, the studio has a long way to go if they want to catch up with the critical and financial success of the MCU. The final cinematic universe we’re discussing recently underwent a fortunate name change from the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters (SPUMC) to Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU). In 1998, over ten years before Disney acquired the rights to Marvel and its catalog of characters, Sony was presented with an offer to buy all of Marvel’s properties. They turned down the offer, instead purchasing
only the rights to Spider-Man and his cast of characters. Since then, Sony has had success with two Spider-Man franchises, with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield letting their webs loose across five films. And with the 2014 release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Sony hoped to expand their Spidey-verse. However, the film was not well received critically and Sony had no choice but to scrap their plans for the time being. Sony and Disney came to a deal regarding the next Spider-Man outing: Sony would keep the box office revenue while Marvel kept the merchandising. This deal, which almost fell through in 2019 when Disney wanted some of that sweet, sweet box office cash, allowed Spider-Man to spin his webs in the MCU. Following negative fan reaction to Disney and Sony unable to come to an agreement initially, a deal was ultimately made which allowed Disney to keep 25% of the profits of the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home (see, I told you I’d get back to this) if they foot 25% of the bill. The new deal also allows SpiderMan to crossover between the two cinematic universes from here on out—an intriguing experiment to say the least. Sony’s Spider-Man Universe includes films like Venom, and the upcoming Morbius and Kraven the Hunter. With over 40 films between the three different comic book cinematic universes, discussion of “superhero fatigue” seems moot. The MCU, DCEU, and SSU are all dominant box office forces showing no signs of slowing down. Dozens of new films and television shows are on their way from each universe within the next few years. The future looks bright for the cinematic world of comic books.
small screen cinematic universes ARROWVERSE: Beginning in 2012 with the Stephen Amell-led Arrow: season 1, the Arrowverse has grown to include The Flash, Supergirl, Batwoman, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, and the newest addition, Superman & Lois. The Arrowverse also has novel, comic, and web series (Vixen and The Ray) adaptations. MILLARWORLD: In 2017, Netflix acquired Mark and Lucy Millar’s independent comic company Millarworld. Following a handful of cinematic adaptations, their first outing on the small screen was Jupiter’s Legacy, which was canceled after the first season, but more shows and movies are on the way, such as an anime adaptation of Super Crooks, the live-action American Jesus, and a Sharkey the Bounty Hunter movie. The Walking Dead Television Universe: The Walking Dead was initially published by Robert Kirkman in 2003, produced and distributed by AMC as a television series in 2010, and shortly thereafter became a global sensation. Fast forward 11 years and there are now three Dead shows currently airing, including Fear the Walking Dead and World Beyond, soon to be joined by a spinoff of the wildly popular Carol and Daryl characters and an anthology series titled Tales of the Walking Dead.
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If you were a horror fan in the ‘80s in Los Angeles, then Movie Macabre was must-watch television. Many of us would force ourselves to stay up a little later to catch the local horror host give her comedic, oft-innuendo-ladened commentary on bad films. The host, Elvira, is the alter ego of Cassandra Peterson, who came up as a member of the improv comedy troupe The Groundlings with a quick wit that allowed her to have a hand in writing the jokes and bits seen on air throughout the run of Movie Macabre. Elvira’s goth/ Valley girl persona, accompanying her raven-black beehive hairdo and gratuitous cleavage, graced the airwaves with her late night program where she would interrupt B-grade movies with her sarcastic and campy quips. Taking over for the late Larry Vincent’s character, Sinister Seymour, several years after his death, Peterson built on Vincent’s off-beat humor by adding more of a flippant edge, thus making it her own and eventually becoming a household name. Elvira subverted our expectations by looking spooky while sounding like a total Valley girl. To take things one step further, she broke another stereotype by the intelligence and overall awareness she exuded underneath her intentionallymisleading demeanor. What truly sets Elvira apart from the rest of the pack is her comedic genius, which is just as impossible to miss as her skin-tight wardrobe. While hosting a locally-based television program, Elvira’s popularity quickly skyrocketed on a national level following a string of Tonight Show appearances and Coors Light commercials, which introduced her to millions of viewers across the country. The people just wanted more.
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One of very few celebrities who actually has full creative control and ownership of her persona, Peterson has made the most of the Elvira name. Over the years, there have been Elvira movies, comics, video games, even pinball machines, and much, much more. Where other celebrities try desperately to break away from their most famous roles, Peterson eventually embraced her alter ego and has become an entrepreneurial paradigm for how to successfully market your brand. Her 1988 film Elvira: Mistress of the Dark expanded on the character and gave Elvira a more three-dimensional depiction outside of her TV show. Released during a time when “spooky” comedies weren’t as prevalent in Hollywood and the formula wasn’t yet established, the film played by its own rules—perfectly in line with her late night show—as an amalgamation of different, yet kindred styles, and has now become an amazing snapshot of the era’s iconography and sensibilities. The icon sits down with SPO!LER for an amazing interview to talk about her career, the upcoming holiday, and what’s on the horizon for the Hostess with the Mostest. Last year, Halloween was all but canceled. And sadly, this year it’s at risk of meeting the same fate. It’s why we still need Elvira, because even if we can’t go out and celebrate in the same way, the Halloween spirit never dies. After nearly 40 years of portraying Elvira, Peterson stayed at home on Halloween for the first time last year, much like the rest of us, due to the pandemic. But that didn’t mean her spirits weren’t high. The opportunist she is, Peterson made the most of the situation and had some creative ideas that helped us all get through the season unscathed, just like she will again this year. We felt the need to re-release our interview with the Queen of Halloween. Peterson will be the first to tell you that Elvira isn’t the same without Halloween. But to be honest, Halloween wouldn’t be the same without Elvira, either. The two have become synonymous.
Elvira/Cassandra Peterson/Queen B Productions
INTERVIEW BY GALAXY INTRO BY ETHAN BREHM
erview erview
interview interview
Cassandra Peterson
SPOILER: Cassandra, how are you? CASSANDRA PETERSON: I’m great. Thanks for having me. I thought I’d never say this, but I’m actually missing going to Comic Cons [laughs], I really am. SPOILER: You’re an iconic person. You play this amazing character named Elvira, but just your voice alone, whether in character or not, makes me nostalgic down to the bones. CASSANDRA PETERSON: Woah! Good! Okay! [laughs] SPOILER: You’ve been doing this character for so many years. How did you get the character of Elvira started? CASSANDRA PETERSON: By the time it happened, I was working in Hollywood as an actress, trying to get work, and I was with The Groundlings comedy improv group for four-and-ahalf years prior to that, along with the late Phil Hartman from Saturday Night Live, and Pee-wee Herman, and a lot of other notables came out of that group. But I was struggling. Getting little jobs acting here and there on Fantasy Island and Sonny and Cher Show, but not setting the world on fire, that’s for damn sure. Barely paying my rent. And I heard about this job at a local station. A girlfriend called me up on my honeymoon and asked me if I wanted to come and audition for this little late night local TV show that was happening here in Los Angeles. And I said no, I didn’t wanna come back from my honeymoon. But a couple weeks later when I got back, they were still searching for someone to host the show. And it was a collection of old horror movies they had had forever, since the station had been owned by RKO General. They had a huge library of old ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s horror movies. And I went in and auditioned. Unfortunately, no one told me I was supposed to wear a costume. That was really awesome. I walk in looking like one of Charlie’s Angels or something, into a room filled with women dressed like vampires and witches and everything else in between. And I dunno, I somehow got the part. I’m positive, because I later talked to the director about it, that it was for
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Cassandra Peterson
SPOILER: When I see you on interviews and TV shows, you look the same. You haven’t changed a bit. Is there a solution or potion or something you’re drinking that you’re not sharing with anyone?
Cassandra Peterson: You haven’t seen me in the morning [laughs]. If there was some kind of solution, I would be marketing that stuff so fast you wouldn’t believe it. I wish there was. I wish I could say it was all due to good, clean living, but that never happened. But you know, I am careful about what I eat and I do 30 I
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Elvira/Cassandra Peterson/Queen B Productions
my comedy improv chops. He was wanting somebody who could be spooky, but could also be funny. And I think most of the girls that were auditioning had the spooky down, but not the funny so much. And you know, I was happy to get any job at that time so I could pay my car payment, but I wasn’t like, over the moon, like, “Oh my God! I just made it! I’m waiting for the Academy Awards!” It wasn’t like that, it was like, “Good, I got a job. I hope it lasts more than a couple of weeks.” Really that’s kinda the attitude we had. And I happened to have been a huge horror fan, so this was a dream job for me. I started at the end of September in 1981 and a couple weeks down the road, people were freaking out! I mean, I got called up and invited on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, which at that time was kinda the pinnacle of show business. There were no other talk shows to speak of and he was definitely the king of that. Man, I got invited on that show and I was like, “Oh dude, something’s happening here, this is getting out of control.” And next year it’ll be 40 years that I’ve been doing the same thing. So it’s a trip. I really didn’t think it’d be 40 days.
exercise. But that’s the only thing I can really say. I guess maybe I have good genes. I drink Dr. Pepper once in a while. I saw this lady who was 105-years-old on the news and they asked her what she owed her longevity to, and she said, “I drink a Dr. Pepper every day.” And I was like, “Damn. I’m gonna start drinking that stuff.” So I dunno. Who
knows? I think it’s the vodka that I drink that kept me pickled or something. SPOILER: You’re such a funny person. When people see the name Elvira they think of horror, but it’s your comedy that sets you apart. And that comedic personality that you have is what’s defined the character through the ages and kept it alive. I remember when I used to see your show on TV and you always had these cool people back then, like Wolfman Jack and people like that. Do people often tell you what kind of memories you evoke for them?
Cassandra Peterson
CASSANDRA PETERSON: Oh yeah, it’s crazy! I really do miss going to the Comic Cons for that reason. It sounds so crazy, but when it first happened, I thought, “This is very weird.” And now I’m kinda used to it, but it’s fabulous. People come up to me and they say, “I used to watch you every night with my grandma”; “I used to watch you with my grandpa”; “I used to watch you with my dad”; “…with my sister”; “…with my brother”; “…with my mom.” And they’d go, “…and now they’ve passed and it was the one thing that we kinda connected over. We both liked watching you, sort of for different reasons.” People will say, “My dad liked to watch you for the boobs, but I liked to watch you because you were silly and goofy.” And they grew up watching me as kind of a family thing, which you really wouldn’t think it. You’d think they would watch, like, Leave It to Beaver together or Doris Day or something, I dunno. But they grew up watching my show together, and people walk up to me, and many times, burst into tears. I mean, of course, that’s probably because of the way I look [laughs]. But they walk up and start recounting the story: “I watched this every night with my dad and my dad has passed and just to see you makes me so happy and thrilled.” And I just hear these stories and it’s just so amazing and makes me feel really, really good to hear
that kind of thing and to know that I brought a little bit of happiness to so many people. SPOILER: When did you know that the Elvira persona was gonna come to define your career? CASSANDRA PETERSON: It took me a while. It was funny, in the beginning the character started getting very popular and I got invited on all these other TV shows and talk shows and parts in movies. And obviously I’m thrilled. I’m going, “Oh
my God. I really finally have made it as an actress. This is amazing.” Then I thought, “You know, I’m doing so great, I gotta go out and get some other parts and do some other things. I don’t wanna be stereotyped as Elvira for the rest of my life” [laughs]. And as time went on, we were able to get the rights for the character and started creating merchandise and licensing products and selling things and making our own shows for TV, for video games, movies, all of that. And all of that money came to me. Unlike other people who you might see—other characters who are equally great— like Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, anybody, they do not own their character. So they don’t reap the benefits of all that merchandise you see in the store. You see a Freddy Krueger costume—unfortunately, the actor who played that is not getting that money. They may, hopefully, get a small percentage of it, but possibly not even that. When I do something, I get 100% of that money. And after a while, it really dawned on me and my manager, who was my husband at the time, “Are you kidding? Why would I want to get away from that and do something else?” I, in fact, did get a part to be on a pilot for a
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Cassandra Peterson
SPOILER: Do you think because you own it outright and you control the creativity and everything, you think that’s probably why it became so huge? Because you have control of this character and somewhere inside that character lives in you? CASSANDRA PETERSON: Yeah, it definitely does. I was listening to a book by Woody Allen the other day about his career and his life and how he had complete control of all his movies—100% or he didn’t do them. And when he would work with a big studio where the suits got involved in telling him what to do, it was just a sure sign that the film was gonna be a disaster. And he was saying the lucky part about his career, which really, really hit home with me, was that he had complete control. You know, what’s that old saying about too many chefs spoil the broth or whatever the heck it is—it’s some old saying, believe me, I didn’t make it up [laughs]—then it just gets watered down. And I think the secret to making a truly unique, long-lasting brand is to let that entity, that person, control everything they do. I mean, it’s not like I didn’t have help along the way. Oh my God, no, I’ve had help from so, so many people. I couldn’t even begin to list all the people, who, without them, I don’t think I’d be doing what I do
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Elvira/Cassandra Peterson/Queen B Productions
TV show on NBC, and I was getting ready to enter into the contract as myself, and all of a sudden we thought, “Wait a minute, it’s October. I’m gonna be making $350 a week working on this show that might not even go and missing out on Halloween appearances? Am I out of my mind? What am I thinking?” So, to me, there are very few people in the world who own their own licensing. I mean, the only few I can think of are Pee-wee Herman, KISS, Alice Cooper, but other than that, it’s a very small club. We own and control our characters. So, that is just an amazing blessing. So after a year or so, I was like, “I do not ever want to do anything but Elvira. This is really lucrative, and I have a fantastic time doing it.”
today. It’s about control—and I’m a bit of a control freak—but it’s about, “No, my character wouldn’t do this,” “Yes, it would do this.” And if you get somebody else involved in it, they have their own personal agenda and it’s gonna change your brand, your character. And that’s when the character becomes—they want it to be for everyman instead of for a specific group that you’re aiming for; a specific audience. So I’ve gone off on that whole question, but the first part really hit home with me, because of just hearing that from Woody Allen the other day, it just really, really made an impact on me. I thought, “Damn! That is a fantastic point!” SPOILER: I sense that a lot of Elvira is in Cassandra. How much percent of you is Elvira and how much is Cassandra? CASSANDRA PETERSON: People used to ask me in the beginning,
“Are you anything like Elvira?” And I’d say, “No, I’m exactly the complete opposite. She’s really ballsy and confident and tough and strong. And I’m like a wuss. She’s my frontman.” And then one day, I think it was Peewee who actually said to me, “You are exactly like Elvira! What are you talking about? You’re completely a teenager. You never grew up. You are
Elvira/Cassandra Peterson/Queen B Productions
her.” And I started thinking about it. And I really think Elvira is that part of my personality that was me when I was a teenager. Because when I was a teenager, I was this—ugghh, oh my God, my poor parents—I was just this brash, loud-mouthed, know-it-all, kick-ass kind of kid. I mean, I moved out of my house at 14 and went to work as a go-go girl. So I really think that part of me has somehow come out in Elvira. So Elvira is Cassandra as a teenager, which is kinda scary [laughs]. SPOILER: It’s so hard in Hollywood to reinvent yourself, but you didn’t have to reinvent yourself. You kept the same invention and kept it going. And now the diehard fans are having kids, and they love you as well. I know conventions for you are probably wild. What was it like at your first convention?
Cassandra Peterson: It was shocking. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t believe the amount of people that had turned out and just wanted me to sign my name. I was like, “Seriously?” And I think we were charging something like $10 for an autograph [laughs]. It was at a car show in Denver, Colorado. I was the only celebrity and then there were just a bunch of cars— classic cars and stuff—and I was so thrilled that I signed and signed and signed and signed. And at the end of the day, my shoulder went
into a spasm and I had to go to the hospital and have an injection of cortisone in my shoulder muscle [laughs]. I was so thrilled that I didn’t know when to stop [laughs]. Isn’t that ridiculous? Now I’ve built up such an incredible autograph signing muscle so I never have to worry about that anymore. People always, when they come up in line at the cons, they always say to me, “Oh my God, your hand must be killing you.” I go, “My hand is fine, it’s my butt that’s killin’ me. I’ve been sittin’ here for 8 hours.”
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Cassandra Peterson
SPOILER: It’s exciting with Halloween coming up. And Halloween’s your thing. But this year, with COVID, it’s not gonna be the same. Does it bother you a little bit? CASSANDRA PETERSON: Actually, it’s very funny, I have a music video coming out at the end of September that I’ve been working on for quite a while with some friends. One of which is Jackie Beat, who is a drag queen here in LA and all over the place. Jackie helped write the lyrics and it’s a super funny song kind of addressing Halloween this year. So I’m hoping to God it comes out the way I’m imagining it will. But this Halloween will be the first time in 40 years I have been home. In a way, I’m really kinda looking forward to it. In another way, it’s depressing to think about. SPOILER: Hopefully it goes back to normal soon. But you have a lot going on. If fans want to get a hold of you, your website is Elvira.com. CASSANDRA PETERSON: Yeah, I’m launching a new site with all kinds of new designs for more Elvira crap [laughs], but actually some awesome fun things. I’m actually selling my MAGA hats— Make America Goth Again. Those are coming out soon. Made in Transylvania. All kinds of new, really fun stuff for Halloween starting next week. And my comic book with Dynamite has been out for, gosh, I dunno, a couple of years maybe. But we have a new really special edition coming out and they’re doing a Kickstarter program for this one because they’re giving away all kinds of prizes like my new Elvira Ouija Board and different things for this new special edition comic book written by me and David Avallone. So that will be super fun for the comic book crowd. And I have, of course, my autobiography, which sadly I have finished after like, a thousand years of writing it. I really have, I’ve been writing it for 15 years [laughs]. And I
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finally got done with it and we were all set to launch this fall when COVID-19 came along and we are gonna postpone it for now just because I can’t tour with it, I can’t go to book signings. And if you don’t, it’s like a musician putting an album out and then not touring, and then the album disappears into obliviousness. So, I don’t want to have spent the last 15 years of my life working on a book that just comes out and is just gone overnight. Especially, if you sign up for my newsletter we’ll be letting everybody know when [everything’s] coming out, so they’ll get a little jump start on the action. SPOILER: Is there anything you want to tell the fans out there?
Cassandra Peterson: Well, just tell them that I really, really miss them, and being out in public and getting to meet them and see them. That’ll be a big disappointment for me this year. But you know what? We’re still gonna have Halloween. We’re gonna make it fun. Everybody, even if you’re celebrating at home or online or however you do, dress up, have fun! I’m having a contest: one-minute horror movie. Keep your eyeballs peeled for that on my social media. The best one-minute horror movie shot with your phone. And I’ll be giving away some really, really awesome prizes for that. I’m trying to make Halloween fun from home, what can I say?
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Elvira/Cassandra Peterson/Queen B Productions
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BY TOM TORMEY
if you’re anything like me, you stayed up late as a
child watching scary movies in the dark eating candy. And when they were over, you swan dived onto your bed out of fear that a zombie or Freddy Krueger would get you before your head hit the pillow. Slasher movies like Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street played a large role in my youth. The terror evoked from these film franchises has now permeated across decades and generations. As fans, my friends and I would often debate who’d win in a fight: Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street) or Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th). It wasn’t until 2003 that New Line Cinema released a Freddy vs. Jason crossover and we could finally answer that question once and for all. But how about Jason vs. Leatherface (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) or Ash (Army of Darkness) vs. Freddy? These horror icons never met on the big screen but they did clash in the pages of comic books. Here are some of the best “horror icon vs. horror icon” comic crossovers!
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1995’s three-issue limited series Jason vs. Leatherface was published by Topps Comics and written by Nancy A. Collins and David Imhoff. The story takes place independently of their titular characters’ cinematic universes. If you’re a fan of these film franchises you’re going to love seeing these two horror icons square off. Despite the fact that the villains displayed attributes that neither displayed on screen (Jason shows sympathy and an ability to write), it’s really fun to see these two interact and delve deeper into their backgrounds. It was this series that we were finally introduced to Jason’s abusive father through flashbacks. Unfortunately, no film would probably ever be made starring these two slashers, but you can make them fight each other in Mortal Kombat X as they are both selectable characters.
2006’s four-issue limited series Darkman vs. Army of Darkness published by Dynamite Entertainment sees two of Sam Raimi’s greatest horror icons, Peyton Westlake (Darkman) and Ash Williams team up to battle an army of deadites as they attempt to keep the Necronomicon out the hands of the Queen of Darkness. Darkman is one of the first movies I actually recall seeing in its initial theatrical release back in 1990. It was a unique blend of horror and superheroics. Seeing these two icons meet in the pages of this series is a lot of fun with plenty of references to their respective cinematic trilogies.
1991’s Hellraiser/Nightbreed: Jihad comes directly from the warped, brilliant mind of one of my favorite creators, Clive Barker, and was published by Marvel’s creator-owned imprint Epic Comics. Written by Daniel G. Chichester and beautifully drawn by Paul Johnson, this two-issue series sees the devilish Cenobites, led by slasher icon Pinhead, tangle with the otherworldly underworld characters of Nightbreed led by Boone. If you’re a fan of either franchise, this limited series is definitely worth checking out for
2007’s Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash published by WildStorm and Dynamite Entertainment is a six-issue limited series based on a proposed, but never developed due to creative disputes, sequel to the Freddy vs. Jason movie. The comic series was popular enough to receive a sequel itself in 2009 called Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors. Blending three different slasher cinematic universes is a daunting task, and writer James Kuhoric does a great job. As a fan of all three franchises, I guarantee this series does justice to each.
Jason vs. Leatherface/Topps Comics/Friday the 13th:Warner Bros./Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Legendary Entertainment/Hellraiser Nightbreed - Jihad/Epic/Marvel Comics/Clive Barker/Darkman vs. Army of Darkness:Dynamite Entertainment/Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash/Wildstorm/Dynamite Entertainment/A Nightmare on Elm Street:Warner Bros./Evil Dead:Sam Raimi:New Line:Sony/(cover image): Friday the 13th/Warner Bros.
the lore that it adds to both the Nightbreed and the Cenobites, as well as the amazing art.
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SPOILER MAGAZINE
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BY ETHAN BREHM
Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Universal Pictures/Compass International Pictures
If while watching 1982’s halloween iii: season of the witch
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you can’t help but wonder if this was originally meant to be a separate project altogether, slapped with the “Halloween” name for marketing purposes, you’d actually be incorrect. The third entry in the long-running series departs from its slasher roots and features neither Jamie Lee Curtis as the heroine nor Michael Myers as the masked villain. However, this was very much by design. John Carpenter and Debra Hill, the minds behind the 1978 original (produced by Hill, directed by Carpenter, written by both of them), actually conceived the idea that Halloween would become an anthology film series, where each installment would focus on a different aspect of the holiday. However, Myers had become such a beloved and iconic villain already— and featured in two simultaneous movies at that point—that the public’s expectation was to see the psychward escapee back in action again. This wouldn’t be the only time a storied franchise would deviate from their main villain for a spell. Friday the 13th would try a similar idea in 1985 with its fifth installment, but
with a much different justification and featuring largely unsuccessful results. Halloween III, however, wasn’t just a bait-and-switch. The film had a method to its madness, and a plan that would have been fun to see come to fruition if perhaps its method had been made more clear from the beginning. Likewise, the film doesn’t negate its pair of progenitors, but treats Halloween and its sequel—shown here twice in diegesis—as fictional films within this universe. Nearly 40 years later, Halloween III has been viewed through a much different lens, with many actually preferring it over its slasher counterparts. After years of a movie garnering a reputation for NOT featuring Michael Myers, expectations are no longer put in place for him to be there, and we can watch the film free of any disappointments. The retrospective revaluation also says a lot about how societal tastes have evolved, even in just four decades. Today, an extended universe/anthology story sounds more fun or intriguing than it does frustrating.
Another big reason why the film has been received so much better in today’s climate is that audiences understand the idea of an extended universe—or multiverse—and fully embrace it. And perhaps if that had been the case back then, the connection between Season of the Witch and the first two movies may have been made a little more apparent by the filmmakers. Nowadays, something like this could totally work (SEE: 10 Cloverfield Lane), but in 1982, the idea of tangential works was a little more confusing. To its credit, Halloween III doesn’t try to force a third story for a cash grab, but creates a whole new one. A doctor, Daniel Challis (Tom Atkins), in Northern California witnesses an oddity at the hospital where he works. One of his patients sees a TV commercial for Silver Shamrock Novelties and starts spouting about how “they’re gonna kill us all.” Later that night, the man is murdered, and Daniel sees his killer light himself on fire, committing suicide in the parking lot. Nonplussed by the whole ordeal, Daniel meets the victim’s daughter, Ellie (Stacey Nelkin), who informs him that her father owned a costume shop and that he had been acting strange before his death. They discover that he had visited a supplier, Silver Shamrock, in the town of Santa Mira. Together, the two of them travel to Santa Mira, a company town owned by Silver Shamrock head honcho, Conal Cochran (Dan O’Herlihy), and under surveillance 24/7. They check into a motel and attempt to figure
out what exactly Cochran is covering up and why it seems like he’s trying to brainwash all of the children in America. Atkins is brilliant in his starring role, exuding a realistic and comforting demeanor that grounds this far-out premise, proving once again that he was one of the best and most reliable leading men in ‘80s horror. O’Herlihy plays a great villain who doesn’t exactly shift from nice guy to antagonist, but instead is able to intentionally let the sinister nature appear to be buried underneath his disingenuous charisma. Carpenter, who produces the film, also does the music along with longtime collaborator Alan Howarth. Their score here is one of their best, using meticulously composed synths, abandoning the gimmicky motifs of the previous two films, maturing in both style and substance. They don’t lean on Myers’ theme to build suspense, instead craft a more abstract pulse to keep our eyes wide, utilizing macabre ambiance that matches the season
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more appropriately than the more syncopated high-tonality of the original, showing how far they’ve come as artists since 1978. Written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace (revised from a script by Nigel Kneale), Halloween III is the true vision of an auteur. Wallace, who served as the editor and production designer for the 1978 film, establishes an eerie ambiance, especially when taking us on a tour of Cochran’s mask factory, with the walls decked out in evocative latex masks and display cases filled with pranks, gags, and knickknacks. Sick and twisted in its premise, with the special effects punctuating the evildoings more than informing us of them, Season of the Witch abandons the slasher DNA of its predecessors and leans into the mystery-thriller genre with creepy horror elements that give this more of a hybrid feel. The gore does not go overboard, but there are some pretty effective practical effects by Tom Burman that are more goosebumpsinducing than grotesque, relying more on their context than mere visuals alone. In one regard, Wallace’s pacing isn’t as lean as it could be. For one, the opening scene could have probably been cut out, with the plot starting at the hospital. There’s a lot of time
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taken to get from point A to point B, but on the other hand, the story is given a chance to breathe and expand. The director doesn’t ever buy into clichés, seeming to forget those subconscious tendencies to execute scenes in a manner we’ve seen them accomplished hundreds of times before. The characters have an effect on their environment and the payoffs are always totally justified by their setups in a way that eclipses Carpenter’s ability to do just that. As a critique on anti-capitalism, the film’s villain is that of a successful businessman willing to throw it all away over idealism, pushing the commentary even harder by having him murder his number-one retailer in the country for no other reason other than to say, “Your hard work doesn’t matter to my overall goal.” While the topic is heavy-handed, the themes are not as overt.
Wallace makes sure nothing is worn on his sleeve, even leaving much of the mechanics of Cochran’s operation up to our imagination. The director doesn’t omit things through carelessness, but by design. I couldn’t help but make the audacious comparison to Toy Story, another film that doesn’t explain every detail about how its high-concept world functions so that we’re left to ruminate upon it in our brains. Wallace does the same here, only hinting at things like characters’ backstories, explanations for our villain, and the dynamics of a relationship between two people. There’s a bonkers-crazy twist late in the film that feels out of left field, even though it contains clever symbolism for our protagonist’s knack for wanting to escape reality in favor of things that lack authenticity; putting on his own mask, so to speak. And when he finally thinks he’s found his paradise, it turns out to be a facade. It makes you realize that Wallace really does know what he’s doing after all. Once the black sheep of the franchise, Halloween III: Season of the Witch is a brilliant horror film that holds up all these years later, standing out, not only among the others in the series, but among other horror films of that decade— especially ones themed around the holiday of Halloween. If you go into this not expecting Michael Myers then you’ll have a much better time and be able to enjoy the fun of it all.
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Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Universal Pictures/Compass International Pictures
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after five installments of the friday the 13th franchise, fans were growing a little impatient with the direction the series was going. Sure, the last film, A New Beginning, brought elements that were unique, taking risks with the story and the mythology within the universe. However, the execution wasn’t really there. Scenes slogged by and the tone took itself a little too seriously, allowing for some unintentional self-parody along the way. There was also the little omission of a certain hockey-mask-wearing killer named Jason Voorhees. Fans weren’t happy and the producers had to panic to keep things fresh, so they took an extra year before releasing a sixth movie in 1986 (before that, they usually came out with one per year) to really lock in a solid story with a fresh perspective. Utilizing a more original tone and keeping it consistent throughout, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives toys with meta-humor and selfawareness that the series had almost been begging for in each of its previous installments. Screenwriter Kevin Williamson has even gone on
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record to say that Jason Lives was a major influence when penning the script for his own groundbreaking film Scream. Avoiding most of the annoying horror tropes, this Friday the 13th movie doesn’t rely on unintentional campiness or a comic relief character for the source of its humor. Instead it lets the levity happen naturally through the witty script and clever filmmaking. Tommy Jarvis (Thom Mathews), the main character from the previous movie and killer of masked murderer Jason Voorhees in Part IV, returns to the cemetery where Jason is buried to exhume his body and essentially cremate it so that he can escape the hallucinations that haunt him everywhere he goes. After stabbing his corpse with a metal fence post,
lightning strikes the top of it, which brings Jason back to life. But this time he’s invincible and stronger than ever. Tommy escapes, but when he tells the local sheriff (David Kagen) that Jason is back from the dead, he’s essentially laughed at and accused of being crazy, which gets him locked in a jail cell (?). The sheriff’s daughter, Megan (Jennifer Cooke), is a counselor at the nearby summer camp, now renamed Camp Forest Green (née Camp Crystal Lake), and seems to have a fondness for Tommy. Megan and her friends were all told that the Jason murders were an urban legend, but she believes Tommy’s story and helps him escape to put an end to the madness. Meanwhile, the sheriff
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives/Paramount Pictures/Warner Bros.
BY ETHAN BREHM
thinks it’s Tommy who’s actually been committing the recent murders around town. Both written and directed by Tom McLoughlin, Jason Lives is the first in the series where the director and writer are the same person (A New Beginning had Danny Steinmann credited as one of three writers, and he didn’t come up with the story), so the vision is cohesive all the way through. With a concept that possesses the intent and clarity of its predecessor, this installment compliments that with a more realized and focused execution. The way McLoughlin crafts each scene and allows the camera to move is brilliant, and the way he drives the plot is masterful. If not for mediation by the studio, this would have ultimately been a true product of an auteur--something rare within ‘80s horror, let alone the slasher genre. There’s something to be said about the continuity of bringing Tommy back once more as the main character. It’s the kind of through line that previous installments had never really tried out, but actually brings a uniformity to the lore of the film universe. McLoughlin could have very easily established a clean slate with his fresh story. After all, the franchise had become exhausted by that point. However, the filmmaker not only incorporated his vision into Friday the 13th’s history, but did so with a specificity that utilized the hero from the previous two
films. Jason Lives gives the series a brand new start without rebooting anything. All it does is reveal the possibilities. Echoing the Gothic horror films from Universal in the 1930s with scenes in a foggy cemetery and religious undertones, McLoughlin establishes a deliberate ambiance to go along with the campy schlock that would be paired with it, almost as if the filmmaker were fulfilling some sort of fever dream for a slasher-era Frankenstein (equipped with a synth-laden theme song by Alice Cooper). Also, it’s a small plus, but Jason Lives actually feels like a summer camp movie this time around—the only one that would end up having such a claim. In the past, the stories have been set at or nearby Camp
Crystal Lake, but never take place while camp is in session. For once we see the kids, interacting with the counselors and becoming an integral part of the story. Jason Lives isn’t just about the kills and how they’re accomplished; they don’t just occur as a string of blunt massacres, but with a suspense evoked leading up to each one. At this point in the series, we’ve become all but numb to the violence and need something else. Unfortunately later films would attempt to cure this numbness by simply changing the setting to something like outer space or Manhattan (or a houseboat). Prior to Part VI, the murders were not only losing their creativity, but their impact. However here, McLoughlin focuses more on creating the scares from the build-up rather than the actual physical acts themselves, and the result makes our skin crawl at an all-time maximum. The kills mostly happen off-camera, but the director proves that it’s perhaps the tension beforehand that makes them most effective after all. Taking the best elements from previous entries and adding a few of its own (which were oddly never duplicated again), Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives finds the sweet spot and finally allows audiences to see how amazing these movies could actually be.
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F A N T O U R E X P E R I E N C E T O U R 2 0 2 1
THE TOUR Welcome to the COMIC CON RADIO + SPO!LER MAGAZINE FAN EXPERIENCE TOUR 2021! This year we’re headed to seven amazing cities, visiting the top conventions across the United States in order to give attendees the memories they deserve. Reaching millions of fans with a unique experience in a way that only Comic Con Radio + SPO!LER can do, this year’s tour will be like no other. Helping to make each event more memorable than they’ve ever been, what we’re doing has never been done before.
CONVENTION TOUR MAP Washingtong
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F A N
E X P E R I E N C E
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T O U R
2 0 2 1
SPOILER MAGAZINE
SPOILER MAGAZINE
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PHOTO BY BJOERN KOMMERELL
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INTERVIEW BY GALAXY INTRO BY ETHAN BREHM
William Zabka/YouTube/Getty/IMDb/Sony Pictures Television/YouTube Originals/Netflix
After speaking with Billy Zabka, it’s
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hard to get too excited when Ralph Macchio crane-kicks him in the head at the end of 1984’s The Karate Kid. Billy’s character Johnny Lawrence is the antagonist in the generationdefining film, but the actor who plays him is one of the nicest, most down-to-earth dudes on the planet. No matter where you stand on the “Johnny isn’t really the villain” argument, fans of the original series have been undoubtedly enjoying his redemptive arc in the hit TV series Cobra Kai, now readying for its fourth season. The show, which serves as a sequel over 30 years later, has a shift in focus to Johnny’s point of view, giving the character the sympathy that many fans have long felt he deserved. The actor sits down to chat with Galaxy about this particular perception of his character, which has really gained steam in recent years, and reflects on his prolific career, including a 2004 Oscar nomination for his own short film Most. He tells us how he fell in love with the industry, dating all the way back to his time going to set with his father, who was an assistant director for TV and film. He also shines light on the late Pat Morita’s impact on Cobra Kai and his friendship with the actor, lamenting how he never got to enjoy meeting fans at conventions since his passing in 2005 was still a few years prior to the Comic Con boom. Billy has never let the fame of Karate Kid affect his mindset in this business, mostly because he’s a true creative who finds sincere joy in just being able to create his art, whether behind the camera or in front. “If no one ever saw Karate Kid it would have still been one of the best times of my life,” offers the actor, who admits that even though Johnny has always been a shadow that’s followed in his peripheral, he’s always been able to find a separation between his personal life and his work, of which the goal should very well be to have a lasting impact on culture: “That’s what it’s all about.”
interview interview
SPOILER: What have you been up to lately? WILLIAM ZABKA: Well, we wrapped season 4, coming out sometime this December. Trailers will be dropping soon. [I’ve been] staying in my training, staying in shape, keeping my karate up, and riding this wave, man. And we just got a really great exciting Emmy nomination for the show for Best Comedy, so we’re doin’ some promotions for that and just doing some press and radio, talking to you guys. I went to a couple of Comic Cons in the last couple weekends which was great, having been locked down for so long, to get out and meet some of the people. So many great kids and families and all generations of people who really are fans of Karate Kid and Cobra Kai. It’s mind-blowing to see the excitement
william zabka and keep this party going with the fans, because it really is a two-way street. We did this panel at the last show, I think it was at Planet Comicon in Kansas City, and Marty Kove, who plays Sensei Kreese, and I left our table and they brought us back to the panel room in the convention center. [We had] no idea how many people would be out there. I figured it wouldn’t be too many just because the Comic Cons are still slowly ramping up, but we had thousands of people in the audience—a couple thousand at least. And it’s a relationship. It’s really awesome. And we all feel that way—Ralph [Macchio] feels that way, all the cast. So we’re having the time of our life, man. And in my down time I try to spend time with my family and do my dad duties and my husband duties, and then prepare for what’s coming next and the balls are flying at me. There’s the short answer [laughs]. So the nutshell version is, “Nothing much.”
on these kids’ faces—all the little kids in karate outfits, all the little new black belts, all the young adults that are finding strength in the Cobra Kai dojo. I’m constantly signing the backs of shirts and initiating people into Cobra Kai. It’s been a really great experience with the show, and all of Karate Kid, from the time I started back in the original film and now with Cobra Kai being fresh and relevant, and with people binge watching it especially over this last year which was pretty much locked down, and to be able to serve something up just around the world on Netflix now—people just embracing the show, embracing the characters and finding some inspiration and solace in entertainment and comedy—all that’s awesome, man. And hopefully we’re around for a little bit longer
SPOILER: Let’s go to The Karate Kid real quick. You play a teenager who’s the most popular kid in school, and then all of a sudden this wimpy kid comes from another town and starts macking on your girl. And you respond. What did people expect you to do? You stood your ground and defended your honor, and yet everyone portrayed you as the bad guy. I don’t think you did anything wrong. WILLIAM ZABKA: Listen, that’s a nice way to look at the story. One thing I loved about playing Johnny and the reason why I was able to play Johnny was the very ending where he hands him the trophy and says, “You’re alright, LaRusso,” and the moment before that when Kreese says, “Sweep the leg,” and Johnny has this check, [when he realizes] he doesn’t trust his mentor anymore. So Johnny, if he was on his own he probably wouldn’t have taken it this far. He did kick him down the hill off a motorcycle—that wasn’t really called for. He’s a champion black belt unleashing weapons on somebody who’s defenseless. So
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william zabka
that makes him the villain. He is the villain in that sense. But the real villain is the thinking and the world view of the karate he was taught, which is really reflective of when Miyagi says, “There’s no such thing as a bad student, only a bad teacher.’’ So here’s Johnny who’s, in a sense, a victim of Kreese because he had a really bad teacher. If he had a Miyagi, he would have been a different kind of person. What I love about the end of Karate Kid and the beginning of Karate Kid Part II, was when Kreese tells Johnny he’s a loser and proceeds to choke him out and Johnny drops to the floor, it’s Miyagi who comes in to save the day. So the goodness and the right way of doing martial arts is you learn it, not to be aggressive, but as a defensive art. So there’s a lot of lessons and layers in there. Viewing Johnny as a human being, that’s how I processed it. So from my point of view, it was exactly as you described—it was a kid stealing his girlfriend, and at the end he wakes up and realizes his teaching was wrong. This is how you know Johnny’s the villain: Back when that movie played in the movie theater, when that crane kick happened for the very first time, you’d never seen 300 people jump to their feet at the same time. Nobody was out there practicing getting their head kicked back [like Johnny]—they were all doing crane kicks in the parking lot. They were happy to see Johnny go down [laughs]. But what a great movie, right? What great storytelling, which is all great fertilizer for what we’re doing now with Cobra Kai. SPOILER: Were people bugging you back then when the movie came out? WILLIAM ZABKA: It was a slow burn for me. In those days, you had movies like Top Gun that were overnight blockbusters. Karate Kid was released in small theaters, limited theaters, but word of mouth made that movie spread. And it ended up in the theaters for like six months. It was a few people looking at me at first, and then slowly it became more, and then all of a sudden my life started changing in terms of becoming exposed.
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SPOILER: Is that what got you into martial arts?
WILLIAM ZABKA: I was trained by Pat Johnson. I was a wrestler, so I was limber and in shape—but to take somebody from scratch and make them convincing as a black belt in a movie, I was on a fast track. So I’m a second green belt, but my training is mostly for film. And it was that movie and other karate movies as well. But after Karate Kid, it became such a part of who I was that I continued training with Pat Johnson privately and then into Roger Lacombe’s karate studio in Thousand Oaks, part of Chuck Norris’ system. In recent days, I’ve been training with Simon Reed, who’s another master. I was very much a marked man in karate. When I was testing for my green belt, I had a couple black belts I had to spar with—they were all going after my head trying to knockout Johnny Lawrence. I’m like, “Come on, dude! I’m just an actor!” [laughs] SPOILER: Almost four decades later, you are this nostalgic dude. Everyone loves you. You’re in your 50s still doing this. WILLIAM ZABKA: It’s fun to put on the Johnny Lawrence skin and give him some depth and humanity. I’ve had so many men come up to me and go, “Man, you’re me right now; you’re fighting through it.” That was my one contingency on doing Cobra Kai when I met with the three creators: Josh
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William Zabka/Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Sony Pictures Television/YouTube Originals/Netflix
william zabka
SPOILER: Your dad was one of the directors on The Tonight Show during the Johnny Carson era. Did you ever meet Johnny and did any of that inspire you to want to get into show business? WILLIAM ZABKA: My dad was the associate director and my mom was Johnny Carson’s brother’s assistant, so my parents met on that show. But I don’t think he was still working on that when I was a kid. But my dad was an Emmy Award winning staff director for a soap opera called The Doctors and did lots of different television stuff in New York. So when I was a kid, I lived in Long Island, and my dad would get me on the train with him when I was five-years-old
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William Zabka/Sony Pictures Television/YouTube Originals/Netflix
[Heald], Jon [Hurwitz], and Hayden [Schlossberg]—the three amigos who took me out to lunch and pitched it to me. My main concern was that [Johnny] was gonna take a proverbial crane kick to the face by the end of the series. He’s gotta have a redemptive arc, layers, depth, humanity. And they really assured me of that, and they’re writing amazing material. This is a different Johnny Lawrence in a sense. The first time we met him he was 18-years-old with that life experience. Now, 35 years later, with all the life that’s happened from then to now, there’s a whole new bag of experiences to draw from—in real life and as an actor being in the film business for so long. It’s awesome and I really appreciate the embrace I’m getting from the fans. When I turn into Johnny Lawrence, Billy Zabka just kinda vanishes for a few months. And it takes maybe a month or two for me to come back and feel like myself again [laughs]. I really am living this character and putting my heart out there. It’s a vulnerable thing to do, but to know that it’s resonating with fans and inspiring or entertaining somebody, or making them feel like they can better themselves—that we’re a work in progress—that’s what Johnny Lawrence represents, and I think that’s why people are responding to it.
and take me to NBC in the city. I got to walk around the sets, I got to see the control rooms. I was fascinated even back then by it, to walk onto the soundstage, and walk into what you think is a hospital room, and open up the door and it’s just a bunch of sticks holding it up and you see all the props everywhere and all the cameras. It was just something I grew up with. And I never met Johnny Carson, but I met many other people because we moved to California when I was 10 and my father ended
up working on tons of shows, such as The Love Boat and this and that. Then he worked with Clint Eastwood for a long time. He worked on Midnight Run and Chuck Norris’ Forced Vengeance. So I was around all that and I think, just by osmosis, it was something that was very natural for me to want to do. So after high school I went to film school. I wanted to be a filmmaker. I always dreamed of being an actor, but if I really wanted to be an actor I think I would have gone to Juilliard or some acting school. Meanwhile, I
was auditioning and got The Karate Kid. So I pulled out of film school and then the roles started coming in. And then I realized I was learning more on set actually doing it than I could ever learn in school. And now I’m producing and acting on [Cobra Kai]. I’m just as happy doing [either]. If I’m behind the camera I don’t have to worry about getting in the makeup trailer. I love to create. I love to be the conductor and not just the guitar sometimes. SPOILER: So you like being in front of the camera and behind the camera equally? WILLIAM ZABKA: Equally. I produced a short film that I wrote and we shot in Europe that was nominated for an Oscar back in 2004, and that may have been the most fulfilled I’ve ever been as an artist. It gathered every part of me together. I was actually supposed to be in the movie, but I realized that I didn’t want to put myself on my own canvas. I just felt like I’d be violating some law.
My father used to say, “Find something you love to do and you’ll never work a day in your life.” If no one ever saw Karate Kid it would have still been one of the best times of my life; one of the highlights of my life. SPOILER: Did you ever find yourself trying to separate yourself from Johnny Lawrence in the eyes of fans? WILLIAM ZABKA: I’m sure a little bit. I really didn’t pay much attention to that. Johnny Lawrence in The Karate Kid is always gonna be and always has been in my peripheral. It’s been a shadow that’s gotten bigger because it went from the theaters to VHS to DVD and now online, so it’s always been played constantly. I didn’t really care too much to change anyone’s mind or opinion. That’s my art. I put that out there and if they’re talking about that, that’s great! They are two separate things. I have my private life and I know where that is, and then I have my art which is projected out and hopefully people are talking about that. If people are stirred by
my work that had a chance to get out there for enough people to see that it made some sort of cultural impact, then that’s what it’s all about. SPOILER: Beyond cultural impact... WILLIAM ZABKA: [laughs] Well yeah, that’s right. It’s interesting how it’s come full circle and I’m getting to do some of the best work of my career where I started, and that’s a super sweet spot; that doesn’t happen. And it’s a very rare thing to take a known villain in a film and turn him into an antihero. It takes the right people, the right creative team, and a magical time, and they all have to come together. And it has. Ralph and I talk about this all the time, how lightning struck twice. And that goes back to John Avildsen, director of Karate Kid, and how he cast us all— he picked the chemistry, and now it’s just as potent as ever. The director is like an artist, they pick colors. When Ralph and I stepped on the set for the first time [for Cobra Kai] and did our first scene when he walks in the dojo and says, “I heard you picked on some kids,” and I say, “What kids?” [laughs]—that was the first time that Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso were together again after all these years. And we didn’t know how that was gonna go. Ralph and I had been friends over the years, but now we’re playing these
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william zabka characters again. And as soon as they said “cut” on that scene, there was sort of this silent reverence and we felt, ”Wow, there’s something here again.” SPOILER: Do people on set ever bring up Pat Morita? WILLIAM ZABKA: Yeah, he’s with us. He’s constantly talked about. I think Daniel mentions Miyagi, I don’t know how many dozens of times, throughout the first season. Listen, if there’s no Pat Morita and Mr. Miyagi then there’s no Cobra Kai, let alone Karate Kid. He was the Yoda. His spirit is in the show: his philosophies, his thinking, his comedy even. I miss Pat. Pat was a dear friend, we talked all the time. On Karate Kid he kind of adopted me as his nephew. He called me BZ and I would call him Uncle Pat. He was so funny and endearing. He was so great, I wish he were here because they would have found a way to make Miyagi so relevant and so cool and hip today. It’s really a shame. And the Comic Con world kind of blew up after he passed, sadly, so he didn’t get the chance to enjoy that as we do. The kids would’ve loved him, the fans would’ve loved him, and he would’ve fed on it. But we do our best to honor him and pay tribute to him and to the character. It’s a big part of this show and in all of our consciousness. And the writers, this studio, network, everybody—we have a lot of reverence for Mr. Pat Morita. SPOILER: Have you noticed a difference in this show between the first season, which was on YouTube, to now being on Netflix? WILLIAM ZABKA: It’s interesting. The first three seasons were all produced by YouTube, even season three which was exclusively released on Netflix. But nothing’s changed except we’re on a bigger stage. It’s the same formula, it’s the same team, the same actors. So as far as the production and the quality goes, it’s the same. Netflix took a bold risk and released seasons 1 and 2 first, even though we were likely going to make people unhappy who were
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waiting for season 3. But that didn’t happen. It was like all the people who had watched it on YouTube were finally able to get their parents to watch it or their friends to watch it. So I think they enjoyed it being released on Netflix so that everyone got to catch up to speed. And then they dropped season 3 and that was our big explosion. SPOILER: Season 3 brought everybody back! WILLIAM ZABKA: Yeah, and season 4, which we just finished, goes even deeper and wider and on and on, and it’s great! SPOILER: Any juicy tidbits from season 4 that you can share that won’t get you into trouble?
WILLIAM ZABKA: [laughs] No, there’s nothing I can share that won’t get me into trouble. But keep your eyes peeled for the trailers and teasers. The first one revealed that Terry Silver’s
back. We know at the end of season 3 that Danny and Johnny are teaming up, so we have that to look forward to, and a gauntlet thrown down by Kreese. So the stakes are high. It’s an exciting season. It’s big, it’s deep, it’s unexpected. These writers keep you on your toes. People are always trying to figure out what’s coming next, but there’s really no way to do that. Even as the actor playing the character, I think I know what’s coming, but then I get the pages and I’m constantly thrown off balance and surprised in a good way. It’s great storytelling and it’s a lot of fun. It’s gonna be a brand new fresh Cobra Kai. It’s marching on.
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William Zabka/Sony Pictures Television/YouTube Originals/Netflix
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Concept by Galaxy Written by Ethan Brehm
optioned a small news article about a young boy who earned a black belt in karate in order to deal with neighborhood bullies. Weintraub knew instantly he had a marketable story on his hands. After signing on director John G. Avildsen, who helmed 1976’s Rocky, the task was fairly simple: make a movie like Rocky. And that’s exactly what they did. Stallone even jokes with screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen that he ripped off his story. However, there’s more to it than that. Informed by his own upbringing and martial arts background, Kamen wrote what he knew. Much like the kid in the news story, Kamen learned karate after getting beat up by a group of bullies at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. He had a militant instructor like The Karate Kid’s antagonist, John Kreese, and a spiritual sensei like Kreese’s counterpoint, Mr. Miyagi. The film was semiautobiographical for Kamen. While not as culture-altering as its progenitor, The Karate Kid was Rocky for an entire generation of kids who grew up in the ‘80s, if not bigger. Number five on the list of top-grossing films of 1984, a year that some people argue is one of the best in cinema history (just go look at the four films above it), The Karate Kid eventually spawned three sequels, a remake, and a TV series. Netflix’s Cobra Kai catches up with protagonist Daniel LaRusso, his rival Johnny Lawrence, and the rest of the characters 34 years after the events of the original film. Becoming a huge hit, the series, now three seasons in, with a fourth premiering this December, has struck a definite chord with fans of the franchise who found solace in the morals and lessons of the iconic movie. Originally on YouTube Red, the series was acquired by Netflix following its second season, with the numbers skyrocketing and Cobra Kai becoming one of the streaming platform’s biggest shows ever. With a format like television, with evolving narratives and longer character arcs, these stories have found a natural fit for this medium. The characters have aged and dynamics have evolved, but the themes are still just as relatable, molded to fit more within sprawling modern sensibilities with nuanced characters and complex storylines. There’s no telling what’s in store next for Daniel, Johnny, and company, but you can bet this series will be around for a long time. Season 4 is set for release this December and season 5 has already been ordered.
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Daniel LaRusso
(portrayed by Ralph Macchio) Moving to California from the east coast, Daniel is bullied by aggressive karate star Johnny Lawrence after befriending his girlfriend, Ali Mills. With his father dying when Daniel was a young boy, the teenager finds guidance at the hands of Mr. Miyagi and the art of karate. Facing off against Johnny in rival dojo Cobra Kai, Daniel defeats the twotime reigning champion, earning his respect. A few months later, Daniel accompanies Miyagi, who’s visiting Japan to say goodbye to his dying father. There, our protagonist faces off against Chozen Toguchi, the nephew of Miyagi’s former best friend, Sato Toguchi, whose family terrorizes locals in town. With Sato and Miyagi making amends, Chozen challenges Daniel to a fight, which Daniel wins. When Daniel and Miyagi return to America, they face a new challenge. Terry Silver, friend of Cobra Kai sensei John Kreese, helps Kreese get his revenge on Daniel by trying to corrupt and weaken him. But our protagonist eventually beats Silver’s star student, Mike Barnes, who had been previously undefeated.
Mr. Miyagi
(portrayed by Pat Morita) Born in Okinawa, Japan, Mr. Miyagi chose to emigrate to the United States so he wouldn’t have to face his best friend in a fight to the death. Some time later, his wife and newborn son died in a concentration camp, leaving a void in his life for decades. Upon saving Daniel from a group of bullies, he reluctantly takes him in as his student, teaching him the art of karate using his unconventional methods.
Karate Kid/Columbia Pictures/Cobra Kai/Sony Pictures Television/YouTube Originals/Netflix
In the EARLY ‘80s, producer jerry weintraub
Karate Kid
John Kreese Johnny Lawrence (portrayed by William Zabka)
Former two-time champion of the All Valley Under-18 Karate Championship for the Cobra Kai dojo under sensei John Kreese, Johnny has a bone to pick with the new kid, Daniel, after he becomes romantically involved with his ex-girlfriend. Johnny eventually loses to him in the tournament, gaining respect for his former rival. Breaking ties with Kreese after his teacher publicly berates him for losing, Johnny resigns from Cobra Kai.
(portrayed by Martin Kove)
Sensei of the Cobra Kai dojo, the Vietnam War veteran instructs his students to have no mercy towards their opponents. Teaching dirty fighting tricks and dishonorable methods, Kreese eventually reveals his true colors to his star student, Johnny Lawrence, who eventually abandons Cobra Kai. Getting beaten in a fight by a passive Mr. Miyagi, Kreese becomes destitute, losing his dojo after all of his students leave. He attempts revenge on Daniel and Miyagi with the help of friend Terry Silver, but eventually he, along with Cobra Kai, gets banned from the sport.
Ali Mills
(portrayed by Elisabeth Shue) The former love interest of Johnny, Ali gets into a relationship with Daniel, which is the catalyst for Johnny’s animosity towards his rival. Daniel and Ali break up soon after he defeats Johnny, but Johnny never gets over his former girlfriend. Down-to-earth, intelligent, and tough, Ali eventually becomes a pediatric surgeon years later and is accidentally contacted by Johnny after a night of drinking.
Lucille LaRusso (portrayed by Randee Heller)
Strong and independent, Daniel’s mother, Lucille is a single mother who worries about her son’s personal struggles and supports his passion for karate, as well as his relationship with Mr. Miyagi.
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Kara
(portrayed by Rob Garrison) A friend of Johnny and the jocular, sarcastic member of Cobra Kai, Tommy is defeated by Daniel in the All Valley Under-18 tournament. Along with Johnny, he also leaves the dojo after getting hit by John Kreese.
Dutch Bobby Brown
(portrayed by Ron Thomas) The second-strongest Cobra Kai fighter, Bobby is in Johnny’s crew, but usually knows when to draw the line. Despite being one of the more compassionate members of the group, Bobby acquiescently injures Danny’s knee during the tournament, per Kreese’s command, which gets him disqualified. Instantly remorseful, Bobby quits Cobra Kai immediately afterwards.
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(portrayed by Chad McQueen) Dutch is Johnny’s righthand man and the most aggressive and brutal of the Cobra Kai gang, finding pleasure in being ruthless. He is eventually defeated by Daniel in the All Valley tournament.
Chozen Toguchi (portrayed by Yuji Okumoto)
Once in Japan, Daniel must face his new competitor, Chozen, who’s more skilled and more vicious than Johnny Lawrence in karate. The nephew of Miyagi’s ex-best friend, Chozen runs a corrupt grocery store, which Daniel exposes, thus furthering his hatred for our protagonist. When they have their fight, Chozen has Daniel close to death. However, Daniel finds his strength and ultimately defeats him.
Karate Kid/Columbia Pictures/Cobra Kai/Sony Pictures Television/YouTube Originals/Netflix
Tommy
ate
Kid
Mike Barnes (portrayed by Sean Kanan)
Terry Silver
(portrayed by Thomas Ian Griffith)
Sato Toguchi
(portrayed by Danny Kamekona) A highly respected karate master living in Japan, Mr. Miyagi’s former best friend, Sato, once challenged him to a fight, from which Miyagi fled, sending him to America. Sato was arranged to be married to a girl named Yukie, but she and Miyagi had fallen in love instead. Years later, upon Miyagi’s return to Okinawa, Sato still wants his revenge. However, he ends up owing Miyagi his life after being saved from a typhoon. With their friendship restored, Sato cuts ties with Chozen, realizing that he does not want to be consumed by anger anymore.
Kumiko
(portrayed by Tamlyn Tomita) Daniel’s love interest in Okinawa, Kumiko is the niece of Miyagi’s former lover. Chozen, who also takes a liking to her, takes Kumiko hostage in order to force Daniel to fight him. After Daniel wins, she remains in Japan when he returns to America.
Co-founder of Cobra Kai along with Kreese, Silver made his riches by illegally dumping toxic waste into the environment. He helps his friend and former comrade get his revenge on Daniel and Miyagi by infiltrating their lives and convincing them that Kreese is dead. After Miyagi refuses to train Daniel to fight the undefeated Mike Barnes, Silver takes him in as a student, but fills his head with Kreese’s “no mercy” philosophy. Eventually Silver, along with Kreese and Cobra Kai, are banned from the sport.
Mike Barnes is the most skilled competitor Daniel has ever faced. He’s hired by Terry Silver to goad Daniel into competing in the All Valley Under-18 Karate tournament, where he hopes to humiliate him and get revenge for Cobra Kai. Barnes engages in unsportsmanlike behavior and ultimately leads to Cobra Kai getting banned from the tournament.
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Johnny Lawrence
Danny LaRusso
(portrayed by Ralph Macchio) Over 30 years later, Daniel now lives the high life, running his own chain of successful car dealerships. Miyagi’s death deeply affects Daniel’s life and his relationship with his family. After hearing that his rival dojo Cobra Kai is returning, he decides to return to karate to carry on the legacy of Miyagi’s philosophies, eventually taking in the son of his former nemesis, Johnny Lawrence, as his senior student. However, after a fight at the high school, Daniel’s reputation gets tarnished and he decides to temporarily dismantle the dojo.
After his mother’s death, Johnny becomes estranged from his son, Robby. The down-on-his-luck former fighter gets fired from his job as a handyman and decides to reopen the Cobra Kai dojo in an attempt to infuse it with more honor than his old sensei John Kreese had in the past. Once Kreese takes over the dojo, Johnny eventually opens up a new dojo called Eagle Fang, full of former Cobra Kai students who were expelled by Kreese. He also tries to revitalize his romance with Ali Mills.
Lucille LaRusso (portrayed by Randee Heller)
Having a troubled relationship with Daniel’s wife, Amanda, early on, Lucille eventually reconciles with her. Always able to give her son perspective, Lucille helps guide him through his rivalry with Cobra Kai and his marriage troubles.
John Kreese
(portrayed by Martin Kove) Years later, Kreese returns to Cobra Kai and tries to make amends with his former student. All seems to be well and good until both Johnny and Daniel uncover some secrets that Kreese has been hiding, with the sensei eventually seizing the dojo from Johnny.
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Amanda LaRusso (portrayed by
Courtney Henggeler) Daniel’s wife and co-owner of the auto dealership, Amanda is a motivator for a lot of Daniel’s reconciliations in his adult life, encouraging him to drop his animosity towards Johnny and take back his protege, Robby. While supportive of Daniel’s return to karate early on, she eventually puts her foot down once things get out of hand, making her husband give up all activities related to karate and taking down Cobra Kai.
Karate Kid/Columbia Pictures/Cobra Kai/Sony Pictures Television/YouTube Originals/Netflix
(portrayed by William Zabka)
Samantha LaRusso (portrayed by Mary Mouser)
The rich and popular 16-year-old has an up and down relationship with her father, Daniel. Caught in a love triangle with Miguel and Robby, Samantha is the spark of a lot of conflict between the two fighters. But with Robby now in jail, she and Miguel start getting more serious.
Robby Keene
(portrayed by Tanner Buchanan) Robby, Johnny’s estranged son, drops out of high school after getting in trouble for drugs, which leads him down a path of other various crimes. He comes to work for Daniel at the car dealership, eventually falling under his tutelage where he flourishes as a fighter. Furious when he finds out who his father is, Daniel banishes Robby at first, but then takes him back in and invites him to move into his home, where the teenager forms a relationship with Daniel’s daughter, the former girlfriend of Robby’s rival, Miguel Diaz. Robby accidentally cripples Miguel in the school fight, sending him on the run and eventually leading to his incarceration.
Miguel Diaz
(portrayed by Xolo Maridueña) Johnny’s first student at the new Cobra Kai dojo, Miguel is a misguided and bullied teenager with low self-esteem who eventually finds solace in karate. A violent altercation with Robby and Samantha sends him down a path of ruthless and dishonorable values, earning the disapproval of his teacher and eventually landing him with lifethreatening injuries after Robby kicks him off of the second story during a brawl, thus paralyzing him. Johnny attempts to reconcile with Miguel and brings him back into his new dojo.
Demetri
(portrayed by Gianni Decenzo)
Eli “Hawk” Moskowitz
(portrayed by Jacob Bertrand) Eli is a bullied teenager who gains confidence through Cobra Kai’s philosophies, flipping the script on his life, but takes the “no mercy” mindset to an extreme level at times. Disqualified from a tournament for dishonorable fighting, which only makes him even more aggressive, Hawk is reprimanded by his sensei Johnny, but forms an admiration for John Kreese, forming his own antagonistic gang set on destroying Daniel’s dojo.
Once best friends, Demetri and Hawk’s relationship crumbles after the former joins Daniel’s rival dojo. Struggling with confidence, Demetri continues to be torn between reconciling with his best friend and finding guidance in a way that best suits him. Eventually gaining that confidence, he begins dating the antagonistic popular girl Yasmine.
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Raymond (aka “STINGRAY”)
Kyler
(portrayed by Joe Seo) Kyler used to date Samatha. One night, while having dinner at her house, the wealthy teenager is questioned by Daniel about bruises on his body. After hearingthat Kyler was attacked by Johnny Lawrence, who was trying to protect Miguel from the bully, Daniel figures out that Cobra Kai has reopened. After Samantha realizes Kyler’s predatory nature, she dumps him.
Tory Nichols (portrayed by Peyton List)
Aisha Robinson (portrayed by Nichole Brown)
Originally rejected from joining Cobra Kai because she’s a female, Aisha eventually becomes the first woman fighter for the dojo. The bullied teenager is best friends with Samantha, a relationship that becomes strained once the rivalry between the two dojos comes into full force and Aisha becomes closer with Sam’s rival, Tory. Possibly disapproving with John Kreese’s actions, Aisha doesn’t show up to Cobra Kai on the day of his takeover.
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Growing up in a povertous household, Tory learned the “no mercy” philosophy herself at a young age after finding out that the world, as well, shows those same attitudes at times. Becoming Miguel’s love interest after he breaks up with Samantha, the teen engages in a tumultuous rivalry with her boyfriend’s former lover. Things get more complicated when Tory and Aisha become friends after she joins Cobra Kai. Ultimately the young fighter sides with John Kreese during his takeover.
The overweight former hardware store employee joins Cobra Kai as the oldest student, flipping the script and rebranding himself as “Stingray.” Adopting John Kreese’s teachings, he applies for a job as a security guard at West Valley High School, eventually using a brawl breakup as an excuse to restrain several members of Miyagi-Do from fighting. Turning against Johnny during the coup by Kreese, Stingray proves to be an unpredictable asset for the sensei.
Anthony LaRusso
(portrayed by Griffin Santopietro) Daniel’s 11-year-old son, overtaken by entitlement and laziness, refuses to learn karate, instead spends all day, every day playing video games.
Karate Kid/Columbia Pictures/Cobra Kai/Sony Pictures Television/YouTube Originals/Netflix
(portrayed by Paul Walter Hauser)
Moon
(portrayed by Hannah Kepple) This neo-hippie and former girlfriend of Hawk constantly tries to unite the two rival dojos, but breaks up with her boyfriend after his attack on Demetri.
Shawn Payne
(portrayed by Okea Eme-Akwari)
Yasmine Carmen Diaz
(portrayed by Vanessa Rubio) Miguel’s mother fled to America from Ecuador when she was pregnant with him. Hesitant to let her son fight due to her opposition to violence, Carmen still attends the All Valley tournament. She and Johnny develop a romantic relationship, but she breaks up with him after Miguel gets put on life support following his fight with Robby.
(portrayed by Annalisa Cochrane) The leader of the antagonistic clique of popular girls at the high school, which also includes Sam and Moon, Yasmine is a bully of the less fortunate students. She eventually cuts ties with both Sam and Moon, later falling for Demetri.
A fellow juvenile detainee, Shawn soon targets Robby and attempts to make his life a living hell, eventually leading to a brawl between the two of them. When neither is willing to rat out the other, a mutual respect is established between them.
Terry Silver
(portrayed by Thomas Ian Griffith) Terry Silver is called on by his Cobra Kai co-founder, John Kreese, to help him take on Johnny and Daniel who have joined forces to train their students for the All Valley tournament.
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SPOILER MAGAZINE
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atm
malignant
DIRECTED BY: James Wan / CAST: Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson, George Young If anyone today can hold the title of “Master of Horror,” it’s James Wan. Usually opting for suspense over surprise, the director’s understanding of the genre and why horror resonates with audiences is what’s made him so prolific over the last two decades. His latest film Malignant is both a master class in suspense and what happens when you give a genius creative control. Wan gives us just enough during the opening sequence, set in 1993, that we’re never truly left in the dark, but still only able to guess at what the story is truly about. Doctors at an institution are operating on a patient named Gabriel, and through a visual montage we can surmise that he’s been severed from another person. 28 years later, we see Madison (Annabelle Wallis), a pregnant mother who’s apparently had several miscarriages. She gets in a fight with her husband, Derek (Jake Abel), resulting in him throwing her against
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the wall and her head bleeding. Later that night, a dark figure savagely murders Derek and leaves Madison badly injured. Just like many of his horror movies, Wan incorporates detectives into his story. When officers Shaw (George Young) and Moss (Michole Briana White) investigate the crime, it’s found that there was no forced entry. Moss suspects that Madison killed her husband, but Shaw is much more nonplussed. Shaw and Moss will be fan favorites: Young serves as the perfect “comfort cop” as so many have done before him, whether it be Mark Ruffalo in Collateral or Beau Starr in Halloween 4 and 5. Opposite of him, Moss is the comedic relief (yes, there’s a comedic relief) with lines such as, “So I’m putting out a BOLO on Sloth from The Goonies?” But something weird is definitely going on, and as the murders pile up, Madison is able to witness all of them as though she’s in the room herself. However, she undergoes
paralysis during each spell, and when it’s over she finds herself in her own bed. Painted like an invisible friend story, Malignant keeps the surprises coming. With his latest film, Wan invokes stylings and tones of horror classics, forming an amalgamation to undergird his own story. Never summoning actual elements outright, the director hints at the likes of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Black Christmas, the 1985 horror-
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comedy House, and even, obscurely enough, Sorority House Massacre (?). But Malignant is completely original, totally existing in this present day and never falling into homage of any sort. Scripted by Akela Cooper, based on a story she wrote along with Wan and Ingrid Bisu, the premise is beautifully absurd, and how it develops is even weirder. But Wan
Few filmmakers understand the value of peripheral vision when it comes to perspective, and here Wan is unleashed behind the CAMERA to craft a visual work of art exactly how he’s envisioned it.
Few filmmakers understand the value of peripheral vision when it comes to perspective, and here Wan is unleashed behind the camera, with DP Michael Burgess and editor Kirk Morri, to craft a visual work of art exactly how he’s envisioned it. The director has a magical way of establishing space and intentionally blurs the line between objective and subjective POV, and yet still manages to conjure suspense—and lots of it. He allows for even the more familiar moments to feel fresh, only a reminder of any director’s role in a finished product and why the idea of a similar story told several different times can be, not only justified, but a moot point if executed well. Here, the kinesis of the camera often harnesses the film’s themes of reflection and polarity. The way the camera swings and pans is often backwards from how it’s usually done in movies. For instance, when a character turns to look from one direction to the next, our vantage point pivots a full 180 degrees
towards that same direction, unbroken, and as though we’re on a mirrored axis from the character. This is the kind of perspective subversion that only guys like Wan and Sam Raimi play around with. Other times, Wan almost obsessively shows us his characters’ sixes during the dark and lonely moments when we know the killer is nearby—the rearview aspect that’s typically kept from the audience in order to reserve a tool for scares. Malignant won’t be as scary as, say, The Conjuring or Dead Silence—two of Wan’s more terrifying entries. More along the lines of his groundbreaking debut, Saw, Malignant demonstrates more of the neo-slasher tendencies that the director helped invent. The jump scares are few and far between, and never tarnished with cheap sound blasts, but the film is conceptually horrifying and unsettling even when it’s not necessarily feeding our nightmares. Malignant is not only a visual wonder but a showcase of an expansive imagination. Even when its second act becomes a little bit too splayed out, the plot funnels into something amazingly twisted—the work of a master director mastering his craft and showing us how the horror genre will always keep evolving, as long as there are still people like him behind the camera.
a
always seems to have an awareness and acceptance of this, opening up his ability to have a lot of fun with his story. Tinged with the same dark humor that trickles out of even the most straightforward retro horror movies, the director magically nails the tone he’s going for, while never fully abandoning the austerity of more modern films.
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reminiscence
DIRECTED BY: Lisa Joy / CAST: Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson, Thandiwe Newton In the near future, the disparity between the upper class and the 99% increases following a vague war and climate change that’s caused the seas to rise to dangerous levels, at least in Miami. Society has now become nocturnal and a military vet has found a way for people to relive their memories in a water chamber. That’s the premise of Reminiscence, the debut feature of Westworld captain Lisa Joy. Hugh Jackman plays the former soldier, Nick Bannister, who runs his memory recall business along with his assistant, Watts (Thandiwe Newton). Much like the archetypal detective in the old ‘40s and ‘50s film noir, Nick is ambiguously down on his luck, seeming to operate on near-autopilot as he offers others the chance to escape into their own pasts, and giving his fellow soldier buddies his services on the house. All is shifted in his world when a woman, Mae (Rebecca Ferguson), shows up to use the reminiscence
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machine to find her lost keys. The first act plays out as Nick and Mae get acquainted and fall in love, but then ends with Nick waking up in the memory tank. It turns out that Mae mysteriously vanished some time ago and now our protagonist can only relive his time with her in his head. Obsessing over where she went, Nick, whose services are occasionally used by local detectives, uncovers some information about his former lover that opens a Pandora’s box of secrets.
Much glossier than most other neo-noir helpings, Reminiscence never hides its computer-generated set pieces. Yet still, they are fun to look at in this what-if, postapocalyptic world where streets are in a constant state of flooding as water spills over the dam that enwalls the city and Miami Metrorail trains glide across an endless lakebed. Joy, who writes and directs, explores her conceptual and hypothetical world well, with industrious set design and enthusiastic worldbuilding, but also constructs a compelling mystery that is chilling in its reveal and unfolds through a series of clever and rewarding uses for the “Chekhov’s gun” principle. Structurally more similar to classics such as Casablanca or Chinatown, the film attempts to dissect the idea of memories just as Christopher Nolan legendarily did for dreams in 2010’s Inception. However, while more familiar than dreams, ideas
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Much glossier than most other neo-noir helpings, Reminiscence never hides its computer-generated set pieces. Yet still, they are fun to look at in this what-if, postapocalyptic world where streets are in a constant state of flooding as water spills over the dam that enwalls the city and Miami Metrorail trains glide across an endless lakebed. of our selective interpretations of the past and nostalgia are arguably more abstract due to their sprawling and elusive nature. Joy doesn’t try to overreach her grasp too much, instead focusing her story more on specific elements such as selective memory and our state of mind during the moments right before death. Fully exploring her unique sci-fi concept, the filmmaker finds creative ways to unveil aspects of the reminiscence technology. Bannister narrates the entire film in an abundant voiceover that fortunately ends up being rectified in the end. However, the problem is that the person-to-person dialogue sounds just as scripted, but without that same justification of hindsight and reflection. As though it were written by Confucius himself, the overly-poetic platitudes truly never end, with every line written to be as important and self-aggrandized as the next, even if this is only a sign of a writer having fun with her premise. But underneath that verbose dialogue, the film comes together
to realize its introspective themes about the relationship between the objectivity and subjectivity of our memories. And how, as the past gets clearer, we end up understanding even less about our future. While the movie features characters with dynamic hopes and desires, especially considering the dystopian milieu that they inhabit, Joy can never manage to make them feel completely relatable. Jackman gives a serviceable effort, but the stiff dialogue seems to be bogging him down, restricting his ability to find any sort of range. Likewise, Newton, probably at no fault of her own, gives an unrefined and almost sloppy performance. Ferguson benefits from having the least amount of dialogue and the fact that her character finds the confluence of two adjacent tropes: the femme fatale and the Manic Pixie Dream Girl.
Prolific character actor Cliff Curtis also strikes gold as the antagonistic and elusive dirty cop Cyrus Boothe. Total Recall, Blade Runner, Memento—the list goes on for what serves as a progenitor for Joy’s sci-fi mystery thriller that has just as many genres as it does muses. But Reminiscence is also a unique amalgamation of its derivative structures and formulas, in a way that has a mindfulness despite the pontificating verbiage, driven by a well-constructed plot that totally goes for broke without ever getting too messy.
b+
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the duke
DIRECTED BY: Roger Michell / CAST: Jim Broadbent, Helen Mirren, Fionn Whitehead Having its world debut at the Venice Film Festival a year ago, The Duke made its US premiere this past month at Telluride, with a scheduled 2022 release to the general public. It’s funny how release dates hardly matter these days, made even more arbitrary with last year’s pandemic (and this year’s, technically), which is still causing films to push back their premieres. Based on a true story, The Duke follows Kempton Bunton (Jim Broadbent), an aging playwrightturned-taxi driver living in 1961 England who scrapes by with his wife Dorothy (Helen Mirren) who works as a maid for a wealthy family. The first act of the movie revolves
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around Kempton’s refusal to pay the government for a TV license. He’s taken out the coil in his cathode ray that allows him to get the BBC, and yet he’s still hounded by the police and ultimately put in jail for a bit because of it. He and his wife bicker about this issue, since she’s a rule follower and a traditionalist. She eventually purchases a license herself, but as one character observes, “So you pay for a television license but you still can’t receive the BBC?” But Kempton and Dorothy’s contention isn’t about the TV license. They lost their daughter a few years back and each one deals with the pain in a different way. Kempton and his younger son Jackie (Fionn Whitehead) frequently go to the grave site, but Dorothy never visits. She’s also morally against one of Kempton’s unsold plays which tells a fictionalized version of his daughter’s death. The friction between Kempton and Dorothy
is a requirement for cultivating any conflict and keeping the film watchable even during its slower moments. Of course, the plot finally goes somewhere significant after a £140,000 painting, The Duke by Goya, gets stolen from the National Gallery in London. For reasons that we learn later, Kempton and Jackie work together to hide the portrait in their house so that no one, including Dorothy, finds out about it. Attempting and almost succeeding at saying something important, the themes flow in and out and never really stick. Early on we can’t help but notice the irony of a government that’s making people pay for a service that only serves as a way for them to tell their viewers which art they should care about. And then there’s the fact that they were willing to pay over £140,000 for a vanity art piece, yet still gratuitously force thousands of people to pay for a television license that they can’t
The Duke/Warner Bros./Caddyshack/Warner Bros.
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afford. But then later in court, the message really becomes about how “I am you and you are me,” which is a nice sentiment, but one that somewhat muddles the previous ideas, which it hardly tries to unite itself with. However, this is not really an indictment on the media more than it is the exploitation of it. As Kempton offers, depriving the lowly of mass media is cutting them off from having a beneficial connection
Occasionally able to find moments of gold elsewhere, The Duke is mainly a tour de force for its two seasoned veterans. to the rest of the world—a connection that may be more important than the viewing of the art or the absorption of the information itself. Occasionally able to find moments of gold elsewhere, The Duke is mainly a tour de force for its two seasoned veterans. Mirren is flawless as she hits every note of the angry curmudgeon who desperately longs to be normal despite having a husband who’s anything but. And Broadbent sinks into his role as the warm and rascally Kempton—the type of guy who wants to use all of the ransom money to pay for TV licenses and is willing to lose his job to defend a coworker. “Leave that to
Martin Luther King,” says his wife. But Kempton’s all about fighting the good fight. There’s a lot of slow-building in the first hour, with the several story pieces just wafting around, pertinent yet disorganized. But after an hour of winding up, the setup finally gets released for an impressionable third act. While nearly every scene is carried by the talents of Broadbent and Mirren and their relationship, the highlights of the plot are found within the courtroom scenes at the end (featuring Matthew Goode as Kempton’s tricky lawyer) when we see Kempton on the stand and watch as others react to his eccentricity. We don’t see enough of his buoyant behavior dichotomized against anyone other than his wife, and so this entertaining, if not insightful, finale is worth the price of admission itself. Regardless of any untidiness in the story, director Roger Michell manages to even out the jaunty pace and keep the refined tone intact, drawing comfort from his British milieu and culminating in a denouement that is nothing short of genius, let alone one of the best sequences he’s helmed in his long career. Ultimately though, he’s a proven actor’s director and he’s never been better than he is here, perfectly utilizing the undeniable gifts of his two leads and never compromising their stern characters, finding the outermost reaches of each one’s stubbornness. And because of it, he morphs The Duke from an intriguing premise into a fun and thoughtprovoking movie.
b
retro reactions
caddyshack (1980) It’s hard to put our finger on why we’ve continued to come back to Caddyshack time and time again for over four decades now. There’s no real plot, a sad excuse for a second act, and a protagonist flatter than Judge Doom at the end of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but there is an enigma to the 1980 comedy that defies its simplistic nature. More beloved for the cast of comedy legends it was able to accumulate than for being the meaningful coming-of-age film it only ever pretends to be, Caddyshack stars Michael O’Keefe as Danny, a high schooler hoping to earn enough money as a golf caddie for the elite members at Bushwood Country Club. The story is there, but barely threaded together by a plot inhabited by meaningless scenes and hubs that have no consequence or significance. At its worst, it’s barely a movie, but a string of jokes, bits, and one-liners. And yet, the key to appreciating Caddyshack is to relish in
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these little moments, such as Bill Murray’s groundskeeper character cleaning up his makeshift apartment with a leaf blower, or Rodney Dangerfield’s boisterous, free-spirited Al prompting a Journey dance party right out of his Maxwell Smart golf bag, or Chevy Chase just being in-character as Chevy Chase. Director Harold Ramis ensures that his adult stars quickly usurp the narrative from the youthful Danny, each refusing to compromise his own unique style for the sake of the others or the movie he’s inhabiting; each barely occupying the same corner of the movie as his costars (Murray and Chase only share one brief scene together). And yet, that’s what makes the competition for the audience’s affection all the more justified. Maybe it’s the earnest finale that rewards 90 minutes of setup with Murray blowing up a golf course just to kill a gopher that still doesn’t die. Or maybe we’ve fallen in love with the idea that, under any other circumstance, a movie this inept could never have worked. And that here, straddling that line between barely watchable and downright hysterical, Caddyshack is still one of a kind over 40 years later.
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AT THE MOVIES
the protégé
DIRECTED BY: Martin Campbell / CAST: Maggie Q, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton The list of John Wick copycats is continuing to grow as the years pass: tight, myopically-focused revenge thrillers with a stylish palette. Director Martin Campbell, the man behind The Mask of Zorro and Casino Royale (but also Green Lantern), is no stranger to either style or focus, and teams up with screenwriter Richard Wenk, who penned the likes of The Equalizer and The Mechanic remake, to craft the expectedly par-for-the-course action film The Protégé.
Starring Maggie Q in perhaps her most notable solo vehicle, the film follows her character Ana, an assassin raised by her adoptive father Moody (Samuel L. Jackson) who found her as a child in Vietnam. With Moody developing cancer that will soon take his life, he decides to investigate the whereabouts of a man back in Vietnam who he has some unfinished business with. His online inquiry sets off a sort of alarm to the bad guys, resulting in a team of assassins killing him and his wife at home, and targeting Ana next. Ana runs a rare bookstore in England where a man named Rembrandt (Michael Keaton) wanders in supposedly to ask her out on a date. However, she soon discovers that Rembrandt is working for the man responsible for sanctioning the hit on Moody. Ana flies back to Vietnam, a place she swore she’d never return to, to exact her revenge on everyone responsible and try to solve Moody’s unfinished
Caddyshack/Warner Bros./The Protege/Lionsgate
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business in the process. What makes the likes of John Wick or this year’s Nobody so intriguing is how its heroes start off as ordinary people who are met with corruption, and so must figure out how to adjust, with unexpected results. Q’s character in The Protégé is shown to be a highly skilled killer from the very opening scene, making her rabbit hole journey feel less dangerous than it does routine. Although, once we overcome that slight obstacle, the story that unfolds is rather intriguing. One by one unveiling a series of unexpected plot points, the film is able to offer spontaneity for our protagonist, and in turn the audience. Sadly, Ana’s motivation gets sunk with only 30 minutes left and we’re never given anything else
that would propel her to keep going. As it turns out, Ana very much has a reason to keep going, although we’re never shown the source of her pain until the very end—a clear oversight by Campbell and something that would have made us more invested earlier on. The director does this one other time when he dampens the big plot reveal, never seeming
Of the deluge of those John Wick copycats, The Protégé remains somewhere in the B tier, not necessarily blowing our minds or raising our blood pressure, but also providing a solid 100-plus minutes of fun entertainment.
against itself, Campbell appears to know exactly what kind of movie he has and doesn’t try to do too much, keeping the film from unfurling with a nice pace, sleek visuals, and a refreshing resistance to shaky cam. He also never gets bogged down in hollow fight sequences, as many would expect this film to be riddled with. Likewise, The Protégé never tries to guilt us into liking it based on any “girl power” pretenses, only ever attempting to appeal to its audience on an aesthetic and entertainment level. It also rides high on its three solid performances. Keaton’s Rembrandt and Ana have a unique relationship throughout the film as both merciless foils and inevitable love interests. Jackson (who’s only 2 years older than Keaton) has a nice chemistry with Q as her father figure. While Q essentially carries the story as the pseudo lone wolf, making us feel both her prowess and her vulnerabilities—coming from the Jackie Chan school of gifted, yet humanly-fallible action heroes— Keaton and Jackson are necessary to keep this from simply becoming the cookie-cutter action movie that it was perhaps designed to be. Of the deluge of those John Wick copycats, The Protégé remains somewhere in the B tier, not necessarily blowing our minds or raising our blood pressure, but also providing a solid 100-plus minutes of fun entertainment. It won’t garner many fans outside of the genre, but the film still offers a few fresh ideas amidst the routine procedure.
c+
too thrilled by the shocking twist himself. Simultaneously, Wenk often has a difficult time verbalizing any of the story’s poeticism, but his very flaw just might be in trying too hard to find it in the first place. Fortunately, even when the script and direction seems to be working
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nightbooks
DIRECTED BY: David Yarovesky / CAST: Winslow Fegley, Lidya Jewett, Krysten Ritter There’s a scene about 35 minutes into Nightbooks where the two main characters, who are trapped inside of an enchanted apartment, have a mishap inside of a mystical nursery. An evil plant hatches creatures called “shredders,” with long thorns for claws and skulls for faces. They attack our two young leads, Alex and Yazmin, who are now panicking trying to destroy them. This sequence, apropos of nothing before or after, gets randomly dropped in the middle of the film, never scary because we have no reference point or reason to care. Yet this scene in this room, which we only visit once, is essentially the only time we get to explore this magical abode outside of the three main rooms. Nightbooks is based on a children’s lit novel by J.A. White, and director David Yarovesky, along with his screenwriters Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis, often appears to be a little too well-guided by the source story, just obligatorily tossing in key
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details with very little curation. While his visual imagination yields pleasing results, the plot almost never takes us anywhere that would expand this fascinating locale. And when it does, there’s nothing to be solved there and no connection to the rest of the film. At the beginning, we’re launched into the story right away as a young boy named Alex (Winslow Fegley) sits in his room, which is covered in horror movie posters, and overhears his parents arguing about how he’s not normal. Alex loves to write
scary stories, but also longs to be accepted by his peers who think he’s weird. And so, he sneaks out of his apartment and heads down to the basement furnace to burn his notebook of stories. As he steps out of the elevator, he’s lured into a mysterious apartment that’s playing the 1987 film The Lost Boys on a cathode ray television. He takes a bite of a pumpkin pie sitting on a table, which turns out to be enchanted by an evil witch. The witch (Krysten Ritter) informs him
Nightbooks/Netflix/Meatballs 4/ Moviestore Entertainment
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retro reactions
Forgoing certain gruesome opportunities in the early going, the director eases his young audience into the terror as they go ALONG. that he’s now a prisoner tasked with telling her scary stories indefinitely. He meets a young servant named Yazmin (Lidya Jewett) who fills him in on all the requisite details of his new home. She shows him to the massive library which contains hundreds of thousands of books and endless spiral staircases that make their way up to the glass roof, subliminally hitting us with the Beauty and the Beast metaphor very quickly. Rooted in classic horror literature, with plenty of nods to Brothers Grimm and the like, Nightbooks also stands firm in its more modern roots of the Universal monster movies and mood horror from the ‘80s onward. Yarovesky seems to be going for mood horror himself, and succeeds in crafting a film with evocative production design and a tasty color palette. Forgoing certain gruesome opportunities in the early going, the director eases his young audience into the terror as they go along, but later on gifts us with one of the most
effed-up moments I’ve ever seen in a children’s horror film. Our villain, known as the Witch, is more verbally abusive than she is evil—like Kathy Bates in Misery, in more ways than one. But as we eventually find out, she’s turned several of her past young residents into tiny dolls that she keeps on a bookshelf. Upon hearing of this, we can’t help but wish that we had seen her cast one of these spells early on to establish some sort of repercussion for our protagonists. Ritter herself seems to be a little too aware that she’s in a movie for kids, her eyebrows bouncy and her cadence theatrically emotive, never truly becoming the evil character that she’s supposed to be. The transparent dialogue doesn’t help, nor does the director who continuously trades in subtlety for verbal elucidation. Luckily, the film has some surprises up its sleeve. The last 30 minutes more than make up for the meandering and haphazard middle act. Just like its unpredictable apartment, the plot twists and turns with layers to unwrap all the way to the end. A great intro horror movie for kids and tweens, Nightbooks may have a difficult time hiding its target audience, but it can still be a lot of fun for older viewers as well, despite itself.
c+
meatballs 4 (1992) A surprising amount of heart shows up in Meatballs 4, yet another summer camp movie that features no actual child campers. Filmed in Yosemite, the straight-to-video comedy stars Jack Nance as the owner of a failing camp who has to win a water sports competition in order to pay his mortgage. He hires famed rec leader Ricky Wade (Corey Feldman) to train the “counselor campers” to victory. Unlike previous Meatballs entries, this fourth installment quickly devolves into a full sex-comedy romp and even has touches of genre parody at times. Retooled during filming to be part of the franchise, Meatballs 4 strangely holds more similarities to the 1979 original than parts 2 and 3 with both its subtle touches of melodrama and the very fact that it’s pure, star-driven mania. Feldman does a decent job as the stand-in for Bill Murray (star of the original Meatballs), channeling the comedian’s “I’m cool because I said so” steez
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and is somehow given the same amount of improvisational freedom as the SNL alum. Feldman, amidst his straight-tovideo days, gives us some funny bits and delivers every emotion with the same level of gusto like some post-2008 Nic Cage. Both Feldman and Nance, along with an actor named “Johnny Cocktails” in the memorable and sympathetic role of Victer Thigpen, have the charm to drive this film even when it needs the most help. And writer-director Bob Logan provides us with some inspired jokes while he moves this along at a deceptively breezy pace, given its sophomoric and rickety nature. The film itself has an unusual relationship with its protagonists and antagonists, and few characters are ever so clearly defined or realized— often intentionally so—but honestly, this just makes the plot a little more interesting. And while horrifically edited, the impressive (and delightfully long) water skiing sequences are an exciting highlight, and I couldn’t manage to think of a movie that showcases the sport any better. I’m not sure what it is, but Meatballs 4, with all its flaws, is still a fun movie that doesn’t just make you laugh, but even has the tendency to make you smile.
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beckett
DIRECTED BY: Ferdinando Cito Filomarino / CAST: John David Washington, Boyd Holbrook, Alicia Vikander In Beckett, director Ferdinando Cito Filomarino, in his feature length debut, tells a story about a man whose vacation with his girlfriend in Greece turns into a nightmare as he finds himself being hunted down by local cops. As the man-on-therun mystery unfolds, tension and paranoia not only grow but sustain themselves for an audience thanks to great visual storytelling with focused beats and riveting angles of perspective. However, when it comes to that very paranoia growing for the protagonist, the director can’t quite hit the same notes. John David Washington plays Beckett, an American tourist in Athens who hears that there’s going to be a political rally set to take place outside of his hotel room. He and his girlfriend April (Alicia Vikander) decide to relocate to a rural hotel in order to get away from all the turmoil (and who can blame them?). On their way to their new hotel, Beckett falls asleep at the wheel
and drives off a cliff, killing April in the process. After leaving the police station, he soon discovers that he’s being tracked down and shot at. With no car or ability to communicate in the local language, he now sets course for the American embassy, but the people who want him dead apparently have eyes and ears all over the country. Utilizing a script by Kevin A. Rice, based on his own story, Filomarino can never grow his titular Beckett beyond just a flat character. Moving about as a bland vessel, he’s challenged physically, but these
Meatballs 4/Moviestore Entertainment/Beckett/Netflix/Don’t Breathe 2/Sony Pictures Releasing/ The Suicide Squad/Warner Bros./DC/The Green Knight/A24/John and the Hole/IFC Films
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physical hardships never seem to take a toll or make him grow as a person. Rarely does it feel like Beckett’s put under emotional strain or given any real tough decisions to make. Although, this may not solely be the director’s fault. Washington, while great in his semi-comedic breakout role in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, has never really been able to showcase much of a range in his subsequent projects. Here, he tries but fails to let the audience in with misguided emotions that provide very little connection to his character, despite his unthinkably taxing odyssey of sorts. Even the typically-reliable Alicia Vikander gets caught acting as she and Washington display a totally cringeworthy rapport. Fortunately, the film underneath is pretty good. The mystery of why these cops are trying to kill Beckett provides an intriguing foundation, lifted even higher by careful distribution of key details. It doesn’t even crumble until it tries to plant its feet too firmly in an actual political objective. We realize that the ambivalence that’s made Beckett such an uninteresting character has been put in place as a way to condemn
nonpartisanship. But where this film aspires to be something of value, telling a tale about a guy who wants to avoid political turmoil and escape to the countryside to enjoy his vacation (again, who could blame him?), it’s constantly unable to do so without wearing this self-proclaimed purpose on its sleeve. At the very least, Beckett is an
A good story has hints of truth in it, but Beckett tries to be the whole truth, only ever able to get there by forcing it into existence. intense thriller with the promise of compelling secrets right around the corner. But for a brief 25-minute stint late in the film, those compelling secrets devolve into this halfhearted political angle, with our protagonist faced with blatant deception that can only work as part of the plot if he can act unbelievably (and frustratingly)
clueless. Let alone, the on-the-nose conspirators are too obvious to be either chilling or surprising for an audience. Something tells me that this hypothetical corruption won’t effectively convey the political statement these filmmakers wanted to express. As compelling and admittedly fun as this ride is beforehand, the inescapable and abrupt wokeness ends up becoming a cancer that almost capsizes the movie. A good story has hints of truth in it, but Beckett tries to be the whole truth, only ever able to get there by forcing it into existence. Fortunately, the movie returns to form for a nice final act, bringing the story full circle for a wonderfully poetic ending. Beckett may be a prime example of how a weak star can bog down a good movie, even if that good movie gets tarnished elsewhere anyway. However, as a pure thriller about the horrors of traveling to another country, this is still one of the better examples in recent years.
c+
Other Notable Releases
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SPOILER MAGAZINE
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INTERVIEWS BY GALAXY | INTRO BY ETHAN BREHM
on horror was huge would be a criminal understatement. Essentially inventing the zombie genre as we know it today, the filmmaker easily left his mark as one of horror’s greatest minds. Syfy’s latest series, Day of the Dead—named after Romero’s 1985 classic but containing a different premise— follows a group of six individuals who, over the course of a single day, try to survive the zombie apocalypse, all with a generous tinge of humor. 1968’s Night of the Living Dead introduced to the world the modern interpretation of zombies, all through the imagination of Romero. The filmmaker’s 1978 followup Dawn of the Dead is the logical next step as a group of survivors indefinitely set up camp in a shopping mall where they attempt to survive as the creatures stagger aimlessly downstairs. 1985’s Day of the Dead offers that perhaps zombies can in fact become humanized—even more so than some humans—as a new team of survivors tries to withstand one another, almost more than the creatures themselves, inside of a cement bunker. It’s slow and meditative and has become beloved over time, even though upon its release it polarized viewers with its meticulous pace. Writers and showrunners Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas wanted to set their series in the Romero universe, where social commentary always undergirds the unbridled chaos and where the inherent quirkiness of the undead is unavoidable, no matter how savage they are.
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A lot is being kept under wraps about the new series, but fans of the ‘85 movie might notice a few familiar names when looking at the cast list. Keenan Tracey plays Cam McDermott, the son of a cop and the namesake of Bill McDermott (Jarlath Conroy), the group’s radio operator in the original Day of the Dead, and one of only a few survivors. Daniel Doheny plays Luke Bowman, no doubt a nod, or perhaps a connection, to the film’s heroine Dr. Sarah Bowman (Lori Cardille). Captain Henry Rhodes (Joseph Pilato), the trigger-happy leader (self-appointed) of the underground militia from 1985, also lands his spiritual foot in the series in the form of Kevin O’Grady’s character of the same name. And there’s also a character named Logan (Lucia Walters) who may or may not have some relation to the iconic zombie trainer Dr. Matthew “Frankenstein” Logan (Richard Liberty), whose “pet” Bub slowly began to engage in human behaviors again. Syfy’s Day of the Dead won’t be set in a bunker, but it does seem to be tapping into this subversion of zombie tropes. Elinoff and Thomas just might be onto something here. While it’s yet to be seen if their show will have its own “Bub,” it’s been hinted that the idea of passive zombies isn’t necessarily off the table. The 10-episode first season, debuting on October 15th, is sure to have lots of surprises up its sleeve. With Day of the Dead pushing the limits of what a zombie show can be, even in this current age of zombie fever, I’d say the spirit of George A. Romero is still very much alive.
Day of the Dead/Syfy/NBCUniversal/George A. Romero
to say george a. romero’s influence
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Natalie malaika is no stranger to the horror genre, with both an affinity in her personal life and her career, featured in films such as Fractured and The Sinners. However, Day of the Dead is her biggest role yet. Starring as Lauren Howell, she plays a funeral director who’s surrounded by dead people all day, and now suddenly surrounded by the undead. This is just the beginning for the actress who’s opening up a major new chapter in her life on a show that’s sure to be a hit. Premiering on Syfy on October 15, just in time for Halloween, the series will be a love letter to Romero’s zombies, said to have a connection to its namesake movie, while also standing on its own as a brand new universe. Natalie sits down with us to talk about how she got started in acting and her love for Mexican food and Zoe Saldana. She also fills us in on the prep work she did in order to grasp what would make someone want to work with dead people all day in the first place.
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erview erview SPOILER: You’ve done several
horror projects. What is it about horror that you like? NATALIE MALAIKA: I didn’t necessarily pick horror. I think horror picked me. Growing up, my mom never understood why I was so drawn to the horror genre. For me, I think it really started with a babysitter I had who had this personal goal of trying to scare me. She would do the Bloody Mary thing, and she would make me watch all these scary movies at night time. And I was always terrified, but I wanted to overcome that terror.
SPOILER: Is there a particular way you have to scream in a horror movie? NATALIE MALAIKA: Well Day of the Dead was actually the first time I ever had to do a full-on scream. SPOILER: How did it feel when you
Day of the Dead/Syfy/NBCUniversal/Sergei Bachlakov/George A. Romero
first got cast in the show knowing that you were going to be part of the George A. Romero universe? NATALIE MALAIKA: If I’m being honest, it is a little bit intimidating. You do want to do the genre and George A. Romero justice. It’s
natalie malaika
not something that myself or the other creatives take lightly. It isn’t a remake [of the 1985 film], but more of a tribute to the legacy of George A. Romero and his zombies. But I think we did a great job with honoring him, and I hope it’ll be received well by viewers.
SPOILER: What’s the premise of the show? What can you share? NATALIE MALAIKA: Obviously there are little nuggets of George Romero’s legacy embedded throughout. But essentially it’s these six strangers who end up finding and having to depend on each other to survive when their small town becomes overrun by zombies. And over the course of the 10 episodes, the chaos that ensues—it takes place over the span of 24 hours, so it’s definitely a jam-packed day for us six townies— we’re definitely taking viewers on a ride. SPOILER: Were you ever terrified while making this? NATALIE MALAIKA: I think the one part that takes some getting used to is seeing the zombies when they’re in their full getup, then you have them chasing you and you
have to run away from them. It’s a little freaky sometimes. [And then between takes] they’re just sitting there having some coffee, but in their full getup. I’m like, “This is strange, but I love it!”
SPOILER: Have you been able to go to any conventions yet to meet fans who are excited about the series? NATALIE MALAIKA: We haven’t yet. That’s something that I am really looking forward to— connecting with fans of the show and George A. Romero. We did do Comic Con this year—it was all virtual, unfortunately, which kinda sucks—but it was still a really cool experience. But hopefully in the future there will be opportunities to meet with some fans and I’m looking forward to that. SPOILER: Will the tone be similar to a lot of the Dead movies, which were kind of tinged with humor as well as horror? NATALIE MALAIKA: The trailer definitely paints the show as more on the comedic side, and that’s definitely an element. The writers, Jed [Elinoff] and Scott [Thomas]— they’re amazing—they embedded it with a lot of comedy. But the thing to note is that there are a lot of deeper moments throughout. And there’s a lot of social commentary, which is something that’s present in a lot of George Romero’s films. It’s a different storyline from the original, however, the complexity of Romero’s zombies is a vital component that translates to the series. There’s also a number of Easter eggs throughout the series that Romero fans may pick up on and hopefully appreciate. Prepare to re-envision what a bite from a zombie could mean. Also, expect some super kickass effects and lots of blood-splattering goodness! SPOILER: What’s your character’s
role?
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natalie malaika NATALIE MALAIKA: I’m one of the townies. I play Lauren Howell. She’s a former drug addict and a current mortician and funeral director. And when viewers meet her, they begin to get little tidbits of her backstory. And this is a big day for her because it’s the first time where her boss at the funeral home is allowing her to take the reins on handling her own funeral service. And for her, that’s a big deal because she’s very passionate about what she does. She’s kind of a lone wolf compared to the other characters, with a little bit of a Gothic edge as well. If we get a second season we’ll be able to delve a little bit deeper into Lauren’s history. I think people will definitely connect with at least one of the main characters, because every character is so vastly different. SPOILER: Is there a piece of you in
Lauren?
NATALIE MALAIKA: For sure. In a lot of ways. Lauren is very strong, she’s good at pulling herself together and doing what she needs to do to get by and get through. But nobody can be strong 100% of the time; we all need an outlet or else we’ll just be a bundle of pent-up emotions. And I think Lauren begins to realize this and we get to see her evolve emotionally and allow herself to open up throughout the season. That’s kind of something I had to learn too. Sometimes I have the tendency to just go, go, go without really checking in with myself emotionally, mentally, etc. to see how I’m doing and to recalibrate my energy, but I’m getting better! SPOILER: Does preparing for your character ever give you stress or anxiety? NATALIE MALAIKA: Not really. I actually find that to be the fun part, to delve into the writer’s work and find my own unique way into understanding the character. Once I do that, stress and anxiety are minimal or nonexistent because the character then becomes aligned with myself in a way.
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natalie malaika SPOILER: What happened as a child? NATALIE MALAIKA: So after my
Day of the Dead/Syfy/NBCUniversal/Sergei Bachlakov/George A. Romero
babysitter told me about the Bloody Mary challenge, I decided to go home and try it myself [laughs]. And nothing happened, but a couple days later I remember seeing a figure swinging on my door. And then when I turned on my light it wasn’t there. And then when I was a bit older, I was about 17, and I was taking a nap and I felt myself kind of being lifted off of my bed. I was asleep and then [my body] dropped, and then I woke up.
SPOILER: What gets you into the
mindset of playing a character in a horror project? NATALIE MALAIKA: For me, I like to stay really grounded. I enjoy a little bit of quiet time mentally. There’s a lot of times where I’m there with my eyes closed, just to get outside of my mind, so that when I open my eyes I just feel very present. Depending on the scene, whatever thoughts I need to bring up, it gives me a moment to steady myself there. In terms of actual prep work for the show, I was fascinated with the mortician aspect of Lauren and decided to visit a funeral home. I was just fascinated with what draws someone to want to be a funeral director and work with dead bodies on the daily. Personally, I didn’t understand the draw. And it was interesting, just seeing all the instruments they use, which helped me when I had a scene where I was doing what I do. And she was very thorough with her explanations and very excited about what she does. So, I tried to channel that in Lauren.
SPOILER: What is your weapon of choice during an apocalypse?
And they had a funeral director there [on set] to help me along the way as well. I figured that someone who works around dead people on a daily basis has a very particular outlook on death, and not necessarily fearful of it as probably the average person would be. So the fact that Lauren deals with the dead on the daily, and now she’s dealing with the undead in this 24 hour span when they attack the town—they are two different things obviously, but there’s probably a part of her that’s a little less scared.
NATALIE MALAIKA: A weed whacker. Swing that thing around a couple of times and it could do some decent damage. But it’s probably less than ideal to carry around, so if we’re talking practical, then hand me a sword. SPOILER: If you had a choice, would you become a vampire or zombie? NATALIE MALAIKA: Vampire! They don’t age, live forever, and apparently can compel others to do things for them. I’d compel a chef so I don’t ever have to cook again. Priorities! SPOILER: What made you get into
acting?
SPOILER: Do you believe in the paranormal? NATALIE MALAIKA: I believe in spirits, ghosts, and extraterrestrial life. I think in terms of the horror genre, [the paranormal] is the subgenre that scares me the most. I’ve never experienced anything super paranormal. I mean, I’ve had little instances growing up, but if I saw something like that in my house—I’m sorry, I’m moving out: “Goodbye, the house is now yours.” I do believe in it a little bit. october 2021|
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SPOILER: What was your first gig?
NATALIE MALAIKA: THE FIRST THING I BOOKED WAS A COMMERCIAL FOR FAMOUS FOOTWEAR. BUT AS FAR AS FILM AND TELEVISION WORK, IT WAS AN INDIE FEATURE CALLED PICTURE DAY WITH TATIANA MASLANY, WHO IS AMAZING AND DOING GREAT THINGS RIGHT NOW. SPOILER: What advice can you give someone trying to get into acting? NATALIE MALAIKA: Make sure you really, really love the craft and are passionate about it because there can be a lot of ups and downs. Once you know you’re prepared for that, start putting the work in: Get into classes, read scripts, find actors, directors, writers that you admire and absorb their work, create your own work, and begin to forge your path in the industry.
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SPOILER: What else do you have in the
works?
NATALIE MALAIKA: I’m doing some writing. I’ve had ideas that I’ve wanted to start working on for a few years, and I’m finally starting to delve into that more heavily. And then with COVID, I wasn’t able to travel. And I didn’t realize until I couldn’t travel how big traveling has been for me, so I’m slowly starting to get back into traveling again. And I just finished up on a short film a few weeks ago. It filmed in Edmonton. SPOILER: Are you from Canada? NATALIE MALAIKA: Yes I am. I’m
originally from Toronto. And now I’m in Vancouver.
SPOILER: Is the industry starting to pick up again in Canada? NATALIE MALAIKA: When COVID first happened, everything shut down, but Vancouver was kind of the first film hub to pick up and start filming again. And there is tons of work because our COVID situation was getting better quicker than most other provinces. So it’s been quite busy here, which is nice. SPOILER: Of all of your horror projects, which one has been your favorite? NATALIE MALAIKA: All of them have a special place, but the two that stand out the most obviously are Day of the Dead—epic, epic opportunity—and then working on Fractured with Sam Worthington back in 2019 was pretty cool. Sam was great, and getting to watch him and how he works was awesome. He’s a really nice guy. SPOILER: What are you gonna be doing for premiere night of Day of the Dead? NATALIE MALAIKA: It’s still up in the air, but I’ve been talking to some of the other cast about just having a little watch party, but it’s still in the works. SPOILER: Do you miss your castmates? NATALIE MALAIKA: I do! Working
on Day of the Dead was one of the few times I felt a sense of family and
Day of the Dead/Syfy/NBCUniversal/Sergei Bachlakov/George A. Romero
NATALIE MALAIKA: I’ve always been a performer, but my interest in acting, specifically, started to bloom around middle school; I was literally in every school play possible! From there, I went on to attend an arts high school in Toronto where I majored in dance but slowly started to segue into acting. Prior to that I had been trying to find an agent. But being young and the fact that there are so many not-so-legitimate agencies out there, I did have a bit of difficulty at that time and kinda gave up on it at one point. But as I started to talk to some of my teachers at school who could actually point me in the right direction, that made me start to turn my attention to acting. I just love all art forms. I think all art forms are great and it’s a great way to express yourself. And I think all high schools should put a big emphasis on that, regardless if you’re an arts school or not. So I started taking more acting classes and found my passion, was able to find a legitimate agency, and started going from there.
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natalie malaika community on a set, largely because we worked with the same people almost every day for several months, and so we really got to know each other. It was a great feeling being able to show up to set knowing that I get to work with a talented, diverse, and fun group of people. We connected in our own individual ways with each other, which was really special. And although everyone is off doing their own thing, we have a group chat and still stay connected when we can.
SPOILER: Which castmate is the biggest practical joker? NATALIE MALAIKA: Keenan [Tracey]. We were always laughing and cracking jokes on set. Sometimes we would just look at each other and burst out laughing—it was ridiculous! SPOILER: Is there a particular director or producer who you’d really love to work with? NATALIE MALAIKA: There’s so many, but right now I’d say my top two would probably be Lena Waithe and Ava DuVernay. One day. SPOILER: I hear you’re a big fan of Zoe Saldana. NATALIE MALAIKA: That is true! I sometimes get lookalike comparisons to Zoe Saldana, which is a huge compliment. But I love Zoe Saldana and I loved her in Colombiana. That’s one of my favorite movies and the badass assassin role that she plays in that—something like that is a dream role for me. And something supernatural would be cool—vampire, witch, something like that.
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SPOILER: If you could be on any TV show that’s on right now, which one would it be? NATALIE MALAIKA: Lovecraft Country. It’s so good. I love the supernatural element, but then it talks about history too and it’s such a cool story. SPOILER: Marvel or DC? NATALIE MALAIKA: That’s hard, but
I have to say Marvel. They gave us Black Panther! I mean, both...but Marvel.
SPOILER: Who’s your favorite character? NATALIE MALAIKA: Black Panther and Letitia Wright’s character Shuri— she’s pretty badass. SPOILER: What’s your favorite food? NATALIE MALAIKA: I was in Mexico
not too long ago, and the food there is [chef’s kiss]. So I’d probably say Mexican food.
SPOILER: If a boy wants to get your special attention, what would that boy have to do? NATALIE MALAIKA: I guess tacos. Get me a full plate of tacos. SPOILER: Do you like your food
spicy?
NATALIE MALAIKA: I do. I love spicy food. Gimme those chili flakes, chili oil, whatever it is.
SPOILER: Would you want special powers in the real world? NATALIE MALAIKA: Sure! I’d want teleportation powers! I love to travel but don’t necessarily enjoy long flights, so teleportation would come in handy. Want to be on a beach in Jamaica? No problem. Authentic Italian food? Italy, here I come. I’m sure someone, somewhere is working on teleportation as a real world thing, right? SPOILER: If you could live anywhere in the world where would you live? NATALIE MALAIKA: Maybe Europe. That’s a hard question. Maybe the UK. I’ve always wanted to experience living in the UK for part of my life. SPOILER: Do you think social media and fan interaction is a good thing? NATALIE MALAIKA: We’re living in a very interesting world. It’s part of what I do and so I’m definitely open to welcoming that, but I am a bit of a private person when it comes to certain things. I don’t post as often as maybe I should or could, but it’s a work in progress I guess [laughs]. SPOILER: Is there anything you wanna say to the fans?
NATALIE MALAIKA: “Be you. Take risks. Take chances. And just live your best life.”
Day of the Dead/Syfy/NBCUniversal/Sergei Bachlakov/George A. Romero
SPOILER: Who on set is your go-to person for advice? NATALIE MALAIKA: Paula Shaw, who plays Mrs. French, was a great person to talk to! She was only on set for a few days, but we went for a walk on her last day and spoke at length about her life and career. To hear the perspective of someone who has been in the industry for so long and has managed to build a longstanding career for herself was very inspiring.
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as a lifelong dancer, kristy dawn dinsmore has performed everywhere from a Royal Caribbean cruise line to the 2010 Olympic Games closing ceremonies. However, as an actor, she’s still just getting started. Beginning with a breakout role in 2019 on the historical epic Vikings, the Vancouver native now stars in Syfy’s upcoming zombie series Day of the Dead. She plays Amy, a “spoiled bridezilla from hell”; a control freak who now must deal with literal chaos in the form of a zombie outbreak around her. While Kristy’s first on-camera role didn’t come until she was 16, the actress has been fascinated by the filmmaking process since she could remember, and recollects the home movies she and her friends would make—mostly horror, equipped with low budget fake blood and quiet screaming (so as to not wake up her parents). We can’t wait to see what’s in store for the actress as she continues to level up her career more and more.
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interview interview
KRISTY DAWN DINSMORE
SPOILER: How was your experience working on Day of the Dead?
kristy dawn dinsmore: My experience
was incredible. It was a cathartic experience for me given all the chaos of 2020, as I had some hardships like most. I felt very strongly towards my character Amy. I immediately bonded with her adversities and felt I needed to do her justice by channeling all those hardships through her, which was very empowering for me as an actress. The show was a blessing for me and I feel extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to get back to work under COVID circumstances and do what I love to do. Also, I lucked out with such a great group of talented people, cast and crew included. The make-up department killed it! No pun intended. Shout out to Ashley [Forshaw] and Chelsea [Matthews]. They did an incredible job. I was always egging everyone on: “More blood!” More is better, right? We had a great energy on set—a lot of laughs and I think generally people were just so happy to be around other people again and working. So it created a fun, safe, creative, and collaborative experience for everyone.
SPOILER: Tell us a little bit about your character, Amy.
Day of the Dead/Syfy/NBCUniversal/Sergei Bachlakov/George A. Romero
kristy dawn dinsmore: Amy’s
misunderstood, misguided, and kind of a spoiled bridezilla from hell. It’s her way or the highway at first, until everything is literally out of her control. She really does grapple with a lot, striving for her own independence, she’s caught in between wanting her father’s approval and love and wanting everything picture perfect with her fiancé. She’s left with some pretty big decisions and some growing pains. We will get to see her transformation as the season progresses. She does not pick the practical weapon of choice. I think Amy is a “go big or go home” type of woman. I can’t wait for fans to meet Amy and see what she’s made of.
SPOILER: Is there a piece of you in your character?
kristy dawn dinsmore: Of course! I
think there is always a piece of any of the
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KRISTY DAWN DINSMORE characters I play within me. I often find a lot of my past characters have mirrored or shared parallels with my own life. Some characters take more work and sometimes you go into them thinking they’re completely opposite of who you are and then pleasantly surprised when you find the shared commonalities. But I always find I end up learning about myself and/or I grow as a person.
SPOILER: Who is your favorite castmate?
kristy dawn dinsmore: I’m too
indecisive and I can’t leave anyone out because I love everyone so much. I feel I bonded with everyone in different ways. Dejan Loyola, who plays Jai Fisher, my co-star hubby, was so awesome. We really became close on set. Stefanie von Pfetten, who plays Cindy, was a great confidant of mine. We both have similar processes, so we supported each other a lot. Kevin O’Grady, who plays Rhodes, is hilarious—such a comedian and a fun guy to banter with. And also I can’t leave out Miranda Frigon, who plays Paula Bowman. She was really a great sounding board and such a force for so many of us on set, and just a down-to-earth, hilarious person.
SPOILER: Do you miss your castmates?
SPOILER: Who on set is your go-to
just creep me out in general. But I think it was the wedding scene where we all had to run away from them as they chased after us. And all the extras in their great make-up—it was traumatizing for me. No thanks! I remember Dejan laughing at me because I was legitimately scared and closing my eyes.
kristy dawn dinsmore: I would
SPOILER: If you were a zombie killer
kristy dawn dinsmore: Of
course! I miss them all the time. Fingers crossed we get picked up for season 2 so we can all reunite. We actually have a WhatsApp group, so we all stay in touch. person for advice?
probably have to say Stefanie von Pfetten. She was like an older sister to me.
SPOILER: What’s a scene in the series that still creeps you out?
kristy dawn dinsmore: There
was one day where we were shooting with a lot of zombie extras and I actually hate zombies. I don’t like things chasing me, but zombies
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would you be kind or ruthless?
kristy dawn dinsmore:
Definitely ruthless. I imagine it would be how I kill all the flies in my apartment mid-summer! I think we can all relate [laughs].
SPOILER: Who’s the biggest practical joker on set?
kristy dawn dinsmore: I feel
like I do love to crack jokes on set,
but Keenan Tracey is quite hilarious and witty himself. Also Jed [Elinoff] and Scott [Thomas], the writers and creators, are pretty hilarious and always cracking jokes.
SPOILER: What is your weapon of choice during an apocalypse?
kristy dawn dinsmore: My
weapon of choice would probably be something practical and boring like a knife or maybe a gun. See, I didn’t say flamethrower, because it would be too heavy and impractical to carry.
SPOILER: How would you describe Day of the Dead?
kristy dawn dinsmore: Day of
the Dead is really about surviving and watching these six people navigate that [space] between their
Day of the Dead/Syfy/NBCUniversal/Sergei Bachlakov/George A. Romero
KRISTY DAWN DINSMORE
old world and new unruly world. Problems don’t just go away when there’s an apocalypse and of course the new obstacles, aka the undead, are causing most of their grief, but there is a lot of deceit in their small little town as well. Drama meets mystery. These people have to work together at the end of the day so they can escape alive and rebuild their lives. More or less, it is a family drama with some laugh-out-loud, gory, and over-the-top fun moments.
SPOILER: Can you share anything from season 1 that is juicy?
somewhere. I was always writing stories and filming funny home videos with friends. I would direct and choreograph, of course. Funny thing is my home videos always turned into horror movies. We would tape cellophane to our shirts and then pour ketchup down from above the camera to imitate blood and then “fake scream”—making the facial expressions and whispering the sound of what would have been a blood-curdling scream—due to the fact it was always past midnight when we decided to orchestrate these elaborate ideas of mine and
avoid getting in trouble while my parents were asleep. Also, I think what inspired me to become an actress was really my love for storytelling. I had some great people and family in my life who would really love to laugh, joke, and tell stories, so I grew up surrounded by that. Watching films inspired me greatly as a kid and taught me amazing things. I was always curious about filmmaking and acting in general as a kid. I would watch films with my dad who would teach me about the metaphors, messages, and symbolism of them all. I would be completely puzzled by actors and ask questions like, “How did they know to move or eat or do the interesting things they do? Did someone tell them or is it in the script?” It was fascinating to me! And really my love for dance and my curiosity and love for storytelling turned into a passion for me. I wanted to inspire people the way films inspired me and learn how to do that myself. I had a big passion for understanding how it all worked. And from there, I did my first on-camera class at the age of 13, and starred in my first TV movie at the age of 16. And the rest is history.
SPOILER: What advice can you give someone trying to get into acting?
KRISTY DAWN DINSMORE: One of us may or may not be hiding something which may or may not be revealed at the end of season 1. SPOILER: What originally got you into acting?
kristy dawn dinsmore: Dancing
really led me to acting. I started at the age of 3 in a musical theater school. We learned acting, singing, and dancing, so it was bound to naturally blossom that way. I also had an extreme amount of energy, running around the neighborhood getting into trouble and bouncing off the walls. I had a huge imagination, so I needed to channel that energy
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kristy dawn dinsmore: Immerse
yourself, stay inspired, and study, study, study! Find great, supportive people, teachers, coaches in your corner who believe in you. And believe in yourself. Do not act to get rich—you’ll be disappointed. Do it because you love it. If you are passionate and love it, don’t give up. We have to collect all of our nos before we get our yes! Be patient, your career is a lifelong journey in this industry, so do things that are in your control and learn how to manage stress and rejection well. Also, live life, have experiences, have a side hustle because at the end of the day that’s what life is truly about.
SPOILER: Does preparing for your
character ever give you stress or anxiety? kristy dawn dinsmore: Of course! I think we are all only human, and I have many stresses and anxieties about being truthful in my work and giving the character’s and the writers justice in the storytelling. Preparing for Amy was exciting for me, and I believe you should always go after things that scare you and make you grow. I love challenging myself and there were days that I had very emotional scenes and those can be scary or uncomfortable to perform because it’s harder to go to those deeper and darker places inside yourself. But it’s so rewarding when you can use that in your work to overcome and empower yourself to grow and be better.
SPOILER: What do you think fans of the
original film will like about this series? kristy dawn dinsmore: I think the fans will love all the same fun as the original: hoards of gross, flesheating zombies, secret labs, rogue doctors, hysteria, and bringing back badass characters like McDermott and Rhodes [from the 1985 original], along with some new faces. It’s all mixed in
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with romance, new friendships, and of course drama, deceit, and unfair alliances amongst the surviving bunch. And it’s not without some laugh-outloud, save-all-of-humanity kinds of moments. I think our writers Scott and Jed did a fantastic job at preserving the heart of the original film and fans will be impressed by the homage. It’s fun for the whole family all the while answering the ultimate question: “Maybe zombies are more human than we thought.” I think the show has a little mix of everything and will make original fans proud. Disclaimer: It will not be for the faint of heart... unless you got the guts. See what I did there?
SPOILER: Have you been to a comic convention?
kristy dawn dinsmore: I got to
experience San Diego Comic Con a couple of times and also went to a few others in Europe when I was on my last project, Vikings. Always a great time and cool experience. I love the fan dedication.
SPOILER: Marvel or DC? kristy dawn dinsmore: Ooh, hard
to say, but I think it would have to be Marvel. The universe is so big. So many characters to discover still, and who doesn’t like Guardians of the Galaxy?
SPOILER: If you can give one message to all the fans out in the world, what would it be?
KRISTY DAWN DINSMORE: “Get ready for us! It’s going to be awesome and I cannot wait for you to meet all the characters in this season! I hope you like it and it pays homage well to the original. CHEERS!”
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on Syfy’s Day of the Dead is Morgan Holmstrom, who studied science at the University of Winnipeg prior to transitioning to acting. Her character Sarah Blackwood is a military veteran and a rookie on a mysterious fracking operation that is being investigated on the same day as the zombie outbreak. Following Day of the Dead, the actress will star in the miniseries Shadow of the Rougarou as well as the upcoming Paramount+ medical drama Skymed. Morgan chats with us about her experience filming a zombie show during a pandemic, as well as learning the useful skill of choking somebody out and her dream of playing Wonder Woman.
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Day of the Dead/Syfy/NBCUniversal/Sergei Bachlakov/George A. Romero
one of the most prominent newcomers
erview erview SPOILER: How was your experience
working on Day of the Dead? morgan holmstrom: It was a radical experience! I mean, shooting a zombie show in the middle of a pandemic is already quite apocalyptic. I think all of us were feeling that sense of urgency while shooting since it was so close to home.
SPOILER: How would you describe the series?
morgan holmstrom: A crazy
show filled with lots of gore and frightening zombies. It’ll keep you on your toes. It’s all the things you could want from a zombie show, but with a great way of showing how the most opposite of people are able to come together in the face of a zombie apocalypse!
SPOILER: How much of George A. Romero’s influence will we see in the series? morgan holmstrom: There is
MORGAN HOLMSTROM
quite a bit of Romero influence in the show in many aspects: through the sets, the characters, the storyline. I mean, the original from the ‘80s had a very serious undertone with comical elements and I think we found a great way to balance that while still having a new, fun perspective.
SPOILER: What got you into acting? morgan holmstrom: Well, I started modeling when I was younger and kind of fell upon it by accident. My agent told me to audition for this movie that was filming in Winnipeg at the time and to get an acting coach. I ended up booking a small role. Then I spent 2 years in denial that I wanted to be an actor, studied science in university until I said enough is enough, moved to Vancouver, took it seriously, and now I’m here!
SPOILER: Do you believe in zombies?
morgan holmstrom: I definitely do. Whether that’s the classic Romero zombie or the symbolism of what they represent. I think that’s a real fear of mine.
SPOILER: Do you miss your castmates?
morgan holmstrom: Of course
I do! You spend so much time together on set and then you have to go back to normal lives. It’s hard, I miss them a lot!
SPOILER: Who on the set of Day of the Dead is your go-to person for advice? morgan holmstrom: I’d say my go to person would be Natalie [Malaika] or Daniel [Doheny]. They both have a well of knowledge in those beautiful heads of theirs.
SPOILER: Who’s the biggest practical joker on set?
morgan holmstrom: I’d say
Kristy [Dawn Dinsmore] or Keenan [Tracey].
SPOILER: What are some
advantages of being a zombie?
morgan holmstrom: You never have to think or plan out what you’re going to eat.
SPOILER: What is your weapon
of choice during an apocalypse?
morgan holmstrom: I think a handgun. Keep it simple.
SPOILER: If you had a choice would you become a vampire or zombie?
morgan holmstrom: I think zombie, but maybe I’m biased.
SPOILER: What’s your favorite food when working on set?
morgan holmstrom: Crafty
always has a way to lure me in, but I eat a lot of chips. It’s a bad habit, but you will most likely see me eating any sort of chips.
SPOILER: Tell us a little bit about your character.
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MORGAN HOLMSTROM morgan holmstrom: Well, her
name is Sarah Blackwood. She’s former military and a rookie working on a fracking crew. She’s a bit of a lone wolf but stands up for what’s right. She’s a hell of a fighter and she’ll always have your back.
SPOILER: Is there a piece of you in your character?
morgan holmstrom: I don’t think
I would be doing my job right if there wasn’t a piece of me in every character I do. I always try to look for the similarities even when it feels like a world of differences; how they could still relate to myself or my life. And I definitely felt that with Blackwood.
SPOILER: What can the massive
SPOILER: Would you want special
powers in the real world? What would they be? morgan holmstrom: I would want to be able to fly or be able to control the elements like water or fire. Something like that!
SPOILER: Did you learn anything
exciting while working on the series that you can use in a practical situation? morgan holmstrom: I learned how to choke someone out properly.
That might come in handy one day.
SPOILER: Who is the hardest
working cast member in the series?
morgan holmstrom: Well, it’s
kind of funny because each of our characters go through so much in our own worlds that I didn’t get to work with the rest of the cast until the very end. But I know that everyone gave it their all and all worked extremely hard to make this show a reality.
SPOILER: What advice can you give someone trying to get into acting?
morgan holmstrom: Keep your
head down, work hard, and don’t give up! This industry is challenging, but it’s the ones who are crazy enough to think they can do it that end up becoming actors. And it’s so rewarding once you do.
SPOILER: Does preparing for your
character ever give you stress or anxiety? morgan holmstrom: All the time, which I think is natural in any scenario or any profession. You just want to do a good job and hopefully play a character that people relate with. I think as actors, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves. But
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once you’re on set and get the first couple weeks underway, a lot of those feelings start to melt away and you can just focus more on the craft.
SPOILER: If you can give one message to all the fans out in the world, what would it be? morgan holmstrom: “Hi! I love you all so much and thank you for choosing to watch this show. I hope you see the hard work and love we put into making it.” SPOILER: Do you feel social media
has helped make the zombie genre even more massive than it already is? morgan holmstrom: For sure! Social media has such a huge reach. And from what I’ve seen online, such as zombie fan pages and what not, it’s definitely reached people on a larger scale.
SPOILER: Marvel or DC?
MORGAN HOLMSTROM: How do I choose? I mean I love to watch Marvel movies but would love to be Wonder Woman.
Day of the Dead/Syfy/NBCUniversal/Sergei Bachlakov/George A. Romero
zombie fans around the globe expect from this first season? morgan holmstrom: Lots of gore, lots of blood, action, awesome characters, and a whole lot of zombie madness.
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INTERVIEW BY GALAXY INTRO BY ETHAN BREHM
Day of the Dead/Syfy/NBCUniversal/Sergei Bachlakov/George A. Romero
if you looked at keenan tracey, you would
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never think that he’s had an adult acting career for over a decade now. The baby-faced star of Syfy’s upcoming series Day of the Dead, based on the works of George A. Romero, had early guest spots on the likes of Eureka and Fringe, but in recent years has earned recurring roles on The 100 and Bates Motel. Exposed to life on set at a young age, the actor says he’s always felt at home going to work with his father, Ian Tracey, who starred in the show Continuum and has also acted alongside his son in Bates Motel. It was Ian who also helped influence Keenan’s love for music. In perhaps his biggest project yet, Tracey plays Cam McDermott, the son of a police officer and a “reluctant hero” in this story about six citizens of a small town who are suddenly faced with a zombie apocalypse. The actor recognizes that his own admittedly-flippant nature serves well his character, who seems to be an embodiment of the series’ comedic tinges. We get to see Keenan’s goofiness firsthand as he shares with us his experience on this show, including the unintentionally unappetizing craft services meals, such as pasta or tomato soup, neither of which should ever be served on the set of any project having to do with zombies.
interview interview
KEENAN TRACEY and we buy it! Marching along blindly towards what we’re merely told is a carrot on a string.
SPOILER: Do you miss your castmates?
KEENAN TRACEY: Of course! When
you work with great people, in close quarters, for the hours you do a day, the days you do a week, you really become a strong team and good relationships have the ability to be made. It’s the first thing you notice on your first official day off after a long shoot. The “post-gig-blues” is a thing I’ve only felt in wake of seeing certain people every day, and then suddenly not.
SPOILER: Who on the set is your goto person for advice?
KEENAN TRACEY: Day of the Jed-
and-Scott! [Creators Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas.] These guys were the guys when it came to any questions or ideas. They rose this thing from out of the ground—quite literally.
SPOILER: Who’s the biggest practical joker on set?
KEENAN TRACEY: Again, Natalie. SPOILER: How would you describe Day of the Dead?
KEENAN TRACEY: Day of the Dead
is an immersion into the world of George A. Romero. It’s a classic take on the traditional zombie, brought back to life. It is a tale of our time, and through fantasy, it touches on real human issues, values, and circumstance in a collective group of characters.
SPOILER: How is your experience working on Day of the Dead?
KEENAN TRACEY: My experience
is fantastic! We were shooting a zombie apocalypse in what felt like a pandemic apocalypse. The wild circumstance definitely brought us all closer.
SPOILER: Who is your favorite castmate?
KEENAN TRACEY: Natalie [Malaika]!
The majority of our scenes are together, so we spent the most time on set together. We quickly learned how to make each other laugh super easily. Turning it off to roll camera was the hard part!
SPOILER: What got you into acting? KEENAN TRACEY: I grew up
around film. It’s in the family. And I always loved going to set. It was somewhere I always felt at home and always envisioned my days of work. Not only that, but I loved watching movies. And once I cross that line of something I want to endeavor and shoot towards, it almost becomes a compulsion from there.
SPOILER: Do you believe in zombies? KEENAN TRACEY: Figuratively, yes. I believe in the slow-growing trickle of complacency. People droning on in a society that plasters “the answers” on billboards and advertisements—
There would be times it would be hard not to stop laughing. And sometimes, you wouldn’t be laughing in the scene; sometimes it’s supposed to be anything but that happening, and you still struggle to squash the giggle.
SPOILER: Recall a scene in the series that still creeps you out.
KEENAN TRACEY: There is a scene
before I know there are zombies that I think I hear something coming from the ground. When I put my ear to it, it’s not nothing—and what it really was on the day of shooting was still weird enough even though I knew it was fake. Sometimes just being in the moment of it happening, you can trick yourself with the illusions.
SPOILER: If you were a zombie killer, would you be kind or ruthless?
KEENAN TRACEY: Oh, absolutely
ruthless. Once the fate of the world
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KEENAN TRACEY has already well been realized, and that the zombies are the problem, I’d make a game of it!
SPOILER: What are some advantages of being a zombie?
KEENAN TRACEY: No silly emotions!
character, Cam.
KEENAN TRACEY: Cam starts out as
the epitome of a reluctant hero. He has good intentions, but often talks long enough to accidentally say all the wrong things. He will never fail to impress in the ways in which one can put his own foot in his mouth.
Ever cry over a breakup? Feel sad that grandma died? Feel impatient in a line at Starbucks? Well, not zombies! Try feeling, nothing at all! All it takes is a bite! “Limited while supplies last.”
SPOILER: Is there a piece of you in your
SPOILER: Who is the strongest character
KEENAN TRACEY: Yes! Both
character?
SPOILER: What is your weapon of choice
intentionally and unintentionally I’m sure. We definitely share the trait of not taking things too seriously, perhaps sometimes to a fault. Trying to make light of things, even maybe in moments not appropriate, i.e., the zombie apocalypse.
KEENAN TRACEY: My weapon of choice
SPOILER: What can the zombie fans
on the show in your opinion?
KEENAN TRACEY: Paula! Of all the people that take on this day, she seems to be the least reluctant and the most ready. I love people who are headstrong. during an apocalypse?
would have to be big enough that I could keep somewhat of a distance, but that also doesn’t ever run out of bullets, or arrows. Hmm, maybe a pitchfork? Just an idea.
KEENAN TRACEY: A large hydraulic press.
around the globe expect from this first season? KEENAN TRACEY: Lots of blood. Lots of guts. Lots of fun. And a love letter to George A. Romero. The team put a lot of work into making the setting have the tone of his worlds. I think it’s something he’d be happy about.
SPOILER: Have you been to a comic
SPOILER: Would you want special
SPOILER: What do you think would be the fastest way to kill a zombie?
convention?
KEENAN TRACEY: Yes! I went to San
Diego Comic Con in 2019, then we did a virtual panel for Day of the Dead this year. It’s a blast. The cosplay is my favorite part. I’m always blown away by the things people are able to make.
SPOILER: If you had a choice, would you become a vampire or a zombie? KEENAN TRACEY: I think of the two I’d become a vampire and keep my wits about me. Pretty bloody either way.
SPOILER: What’s your favorite food when working on set?
KEENAN TRACEY: There were certain days on this particular set that made specific lunches a little harder to look at. Pasta on guts days—that was hard. Tomato soup on bloody days— unintentionally themed meals.
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powers in the real world, and what would they be? KEENAN TRACEY: Yes! I’d love to be able to read people’s minds. I feel the world would be far more navigable in a state of constant truth.
SPOILER: Did you learn anything
exciting while working on the series that you can use in a practical situation? KEENAN TRACEY: I learned how to operate a motorized lawn mower. I also learned arguably the most effective way to soak an entire set in fake blood and guts. Remember what I said about pasta day.
SPOILER: Choose, Marvel or DC?
KEENAN TRACEY: I love both, so whoever hires me first!
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2021 is looking to be a heck of a year for Daniel Doheny. With starring roles on two new series, Day of the Dead and Brand New Cherry Flavor, the actor might have his hands full, but I’m sure he wouldn’t want it any other way. The Canada native has been in the industry since 2012, getting a lot of recognition following his lead roles in the films Adventures in Public School and The Package, winning him several
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awards in the process. Classically trained in theater, graduating from Vancouver’s Studio 58, the actor is also a member of the improv comedy troupe HumanTown. And now, his comedic instincts have earned him the recognition necessary for his latest endeavors. On Day of the Dead, loosely based on the George A. Romero zombie film of the same name, he stars as Luke Bowman, who has a “mysterious past” and is the son of the town mayor (played by Miranda Frigon). Daniel chats with us about his love of Star Trek, t-shirt towers, and the difference between Canadian and American Corn Pops. And then he invites us over to his house?
Day of the Dead/Syfy/NBCUniversal/Sergei Bachlakov/George A. Romero
INTERVIEW BY GALAXY INTRO BY ETHAN BREHM
erview erview
interview interview
daniel doheny SPOILER: What got you into acting? daniel doheny: Making people laugh in
elementary school, I think.
SPOILER: How would you describe Day of the Dead?
daniel doheny: Well, I actually haven’t seen it
yet so it’s tough to say. But I think it’s going to be kind of like The O.C. meets zombies. I think. I also haven’t seen The O.C. so don’t quote me on that.
SPOILER: Do you believe in zombies? daniel doheny: You mean Voodoo? That’s some
dark magic. If we’re talking about a pathogen or some kind of rage virus, then definitely yes. If COVID mutates, then we all get turned into zombies—seems practically inevitable.
SPOILER: Who on the set of Day of the Dead is your go-to person for advice?
daniel doheny: Probably the people at craft
services. What kind of snacks do you have left? Where are the Corn Pops? Should I invest in Ethereum?
SPOILER: Who’s the biggest practical joker on set?
daniel doheny: Jared Leto. He kept leaving
gross s**t in my trailer! It’s like, “Dude, I know you’re ‘in character,’ but come on! No one cares.”
SPOILER: Recall a scene in the series that still creeps you out.
daniel doheny: The zombie that comes out
of the swamp to attack me. That would be, not creepy, but life-alteringly, therapy-inducingly horrifying.
SPOILER: Tell us a little bit about your character, Luke.
daniel doheny: My character has a mysterious
past. And I’m fed up with this small-town bulls**t!
SPOILER: Is there a piece of you in your character?
daniel doheny: Of course! I don’t think there’s
any role where the actor doesn’t bring a part of themselves to it. Even when Andy Serkis is playing Gollum, I think there’s a little bit of Andy in there. Andy loves eating raw fish—I know that for a fact.
SPOILER: What can the massive zombie fans
around the globe expect from this first season?
daniel doheny: Teenage drama, baby!
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daniel doheny SPOILER: If you were a zombie killer
where Star Trek is real, and I’m on the Enterprise, and I can’t remember this reality so Star Trek is just real-life now. So, kind of like The Matrix, but it’s Star Trek.
SPOILER: What is your weapon of choice
SPOILER: Did you learn anything exciting while working on the series that you can use in a practical situation? daniel doheny: Man, those stuntmen can get hit by cars real good. If I ever have a Lexus bearing down on me, I’m gonna roll like they do.
during an apocalypse? daniel doheny: A crowbar. Thanks, Max Brooks!
SPOILER: What do you think would be the fastest way to kill a zombie?
daniel doheny: Tanning booth. Wait,
did you say “fastest”?
SPOILER: Have you been to a comic
convention? What did it feel like attending your first one? daniel doheny: Hell yeah I have! Fan Expo in Vancouver. I go for the t-shirt tower. But they got rid of the t-shirt tower in the last couple Fan Expos. What the heck? Bring it back, you nerds!
SPOILER: What are some advantages of being a zombie?
daniel doheny: Their union has great
dental.
SPOILER: If you had a choice would you become a vampire or zombie?
daniel doheny: Vampire: live forever,
go to blood raves, make out with Tom Cruise, hang out with Kirsten Dunst as an immortal child, drink that blood! Suck it, Blade!
SPOILER: What’s your favorite food when working on set?
daniel doheny: Great question. My
favorite is Corn Pops. But I can’t eat them every day or Dan-Dan gets sad, so I have to moderate. Now, these are Canadian Corn Pops I’m talking about here, not the American ones. Yes, there’s a difference. The Canadian ones are on another level. Come over to my house and I’ll show you.
SPOILER: Would you want special powers
in the real world, and what would they be? daniel doheny: My power would be to send myself to an alternate reality
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SPOILER: Who is the hardest working cast member in the series? daniel doheny: One of those stuntmen had to come out of a lake in full zombie make-up, in Canada, in the winter, multiple times. Those guys work hard. Us actors are all babies. SPOILER: How much of George A. Romero’s influence will we see in the series? daniel doheny: There’s a goofiness to some of the zombies that I think is reminiscent of Romero’s work. Zombies in full football gear, that kind of thing. SPOILER: What advice can you give someone trying to get into acting? daniel doheny: Read some books on acting. SPOILER: Does preparing for your character ever give you stress or anxiety? daniel doheny: Usually, no. If there’s something I’m worried about then yes, but if I’m well prepared and feel incontrol then usually no. SPOILER: If you can give one message to all the fans out in the world, what would it be? daniel doheny: “If you see me in real life, come say hello.” SPOILER: Marvel or DC?
DANIEL DOHENY: This is a longer conversation than we have time FOR...
Day of the Dead/Syfy/NBCUniversal/Sergei Bachlakov/George A. Romero
would you be kind or ruthless? daniel doheny: Both. They’d call me “Sweet Baby Ruthless” and I’d have a gang of zombie dogs that I’m really nice to.
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Writer: Mark Russell | Artist: Sean Izaakse | Colorist: Nolan Woodard
what’s it about?
Marvel’s First Family, the Fantastic Four, overcame adversity, acquired amazing superhuman abilities, and became America’s darlings throughout the 1960s. Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards, emerged from the 1960s a changed man. The cosmic rays that bombarded him, his wife Sue Storm, now the mother of his child, her brother Johnny Storm, and friend Ben Grimm, aka the Thing, allowed Reed a keener sense of introspection. He is continuously haunted by what he saw in his cosmic quest. Something is coming for Earth. Something has reawakened. That something is Galactus and Galactus hungers. Now, in the 1970s, without any tangible proof, Reed must convince a skeptical public that the entire planet is in imminent danger. Will Reed be able to do it in time or is the Earth doomed?
the good
Let’s start with the art. Every single panel in the entire book pops right off the page. Sue
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Storm takes center stage in this issue as she emerges from the shadow of her genius and obsessed husband. Sue proves she is more than a wife, more than a mother, she is a hero that millions look up to and are inspired by. Black Panther, Captain America, and Namor quickly recognize what Reed cannot: that Sue’s genius and humanity make her the perfect hero. Her strife is perfectly encapsulated in Mark Russell’s narration and dialogue.
the bad
Whereas Life Story #1 combines the 1960s and the fictitious Fantastic Four seamlessly, Life Story #2, while set in the 1970s, bares little-to-no connection to the decade itself barring a few panels sporadically throughout the issue. It was the link between fiction and history that made me connect with the first book. I love cameos and guest appearances but this issue felt as if Russell were trying to cram every major supporting Fantastic Four character from the last six decades into a single issue without much development.
SCORE
7.5/10
Fantastic Four/Marvel Comics/We Only Find Them When They’re Dead/Boom! Studios
FANTASTIC FOUR: LIFE STORY #2
COMIC BOOK REVIEW |
WE ONLY FIND THEM WHEN THEY’RE DEAD Writer: Al Ewing | Artist: Simone Di Meo | Colorist: Mariasara Miotti
what’s it about?
At the edge of space in the year 2367, Captain Malik and the crew of the autopsy ship, the Vihaan II, harvest the remains of humongous dead gods, both for profit and for the sake of humanity. Big pharmaceuticals pay big payouts for the meat and protein harvested off the fallen deities, which should be enough for most people, but not for Malik. He’s on a mission to see a living god.
the good
I’m jumping on We Only Find Them When They’re Dead roughly a year after its first publication. I heard great things about the book and the team behind it so I had to pick it up! This sci-fi epic drags us head first into the dark and dangerous world of god scavenging at the edge of everything. With amazing work on titles like Harley Quinn and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, it should come as no surprise that Simone Di Meo’s art is stunning and fluid. Both the ships and the character designs are amazing.
Al Ewing is on point, setting the tone for the series as he introduces us to Captain Malik’s world.
the bad
WOFTWTD suffers in that it’s often exposition heavy. While that’s completely understandable and expected in a book that is establishing a great deal in a single issue, there are many aspects of the world presented that leave us in the dark. The book gets bogged down in its emphasis on nautical accuracy over giving us a clear picture of where our characters were and where they’re going. I’m hoping issue two will bring more character and plot development than the first outing does. I can definitely see why readers are recommending this title, but after this issue I don’t find myself as invested in the characters as I’d like to be in order to pick up #2.
SCORE
6.5/10
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Writer: Kaare Andrews | Artist: Kaare Andrews | Colorist: Kaare Andrews
what’s it about?
The most iconic versions of your favorite Marvel characters, teenage Spider-Man, Red Room Black Widow, World War II Captain America, arrive on a mysterious island inhabited by peculiar tribes and amazing beasts. Are they dead, lost in a dream, or possibly trapped in another dimension? How will they survive? Will they escape or will they want to?
the good
Kaare Andrews presents us with the very versions of Black Widow, Captain America, and Spider-Man that are quintessential to Marvel history, yet finds a way to take them on a journey we’ve never experienced before. Combine amazing art, superb writing, a true love for the characters, and fantastic Conan-esque elements and you have 2021’s Amazing Fantasy. The last few panels sent chills down my spine. This self-contained story is a perfect book for new readers and lifelong fans alike. I’m really excited to see where Andrews takes our characters next.
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the bad
It’s easy to get lost in the nostalgia of the characters as they are presented here, and upon second reading it’s a little more difficult to notice that there really isn’t much of a story. The unnamed island is indistinguishable from the Savage Land that these characters visited throughout their publication history. Captain America went from WWII hero to Ka-Zar clone fairly quickly and without much reasoning. I’m hoping the second issue will bring our time-displaced heroes together and present us with a coherent plot. SCORE
8.0/10
Amazing Fantasy/Marvel Comics/Icon & Rocket/DC Comics
AMAZING FANTASY (2021) #1
COMIC BOOK REVIEW |
MILESTONE RETURNS: ICON & ROCKET SEASON ONE #1 Writer: Reginald Hudlin | Artist: Doug Braithwaite, Scott Hanna, & Andrew Currie | Colorist: Brad Anderson
what’s it about?
The sole survivor of a terrorist attack aboard a spaceship, Augustus Freeman crash lands on a plantation in Georgia in 1843. His escape pod comes into contact with a kindly enslaved couple, identifying themselves as higher-functioning beings who can care for him. The alien survivor morphs into a Black child and is taken in by the kindly couple. Over nearly two centuries, Augustus has amassed great wealth and isolated himself from the rest of the world. That is, until the world comes breaking through his window. A group of misguided teens, under Raquel Ervin, enter Augustus’ house to rob it. Seeing who Augustus really is, his power, and his potential, Raquel heeds his warning and decides to straighten her life out. To do that, she’s going to need his help as they make their way to become Icon and Rocket.
the good
I thought the Static issues were great, but the team behind Icon and Rocket do a much better job of summarizing Augustus’ history and bringing Icon out of the ‘90s
and into the modern era. This issue gives us a great introduction to Icon and Rocket. We see just enough of Icon’s powers to get an idea of what he is capable of with the potential to see so much more in future issues. It’s easy to dismiss Icon as a Superman clone or compare Icon and Rocket’s relationship to Batman and Robin’s, but that isn’t necessarily the case, and those comparisons are superficial at best. The team of Icon and Rocket is best compared to the Golden Age Stripsey and the StarSpangled Kid, where the younger member of the team seems to be leading the way. A solid return for a character with huge potential.
the bad
The dialogue may lack the corniness of its 1990s counterpart, but there are moments throughout the book where it feels contrived and a little forced. I guess that’s to be expected when you’re modernizing and summarizing the origins of two characters across space and time. I am extremely interested in seeing how Augustus accumulated his fortune and the adventures he’s had since his arrival on Earth. We only get
a few panels here and there. I hope future issues delve into his march across time as well as the origin of his species.
SCORE
9.0/10
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Writer: Sam Hamm | Artist: Joe Quinones | Colorist: Leonardo Ito
what’s it about?
Over 30 years after it’s original release and subsequent sequel, Tim Burton’s Batman is back! Original screenwriter Sam Hamm returns to the craft tales set within the universe he helped create. The Joker may be gone but he’s certainly not forgotten as his disciples continue to run amuck on the streets of Gotham City. Harvey Dent is looking to bring order back to Gotham and that means bringing down the masked vigilante known as the Batman. Who does Dent turn to for help? Bruce Wayne of course!
the good
It is great to be back in this universe again! I was 11-yearsold when Batmania swept the globe in 1989, which it did again in 1992 with Batman Returns.
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This book introduces us to the Burtonverse versions of Harvey Bullock and Barbara Gordon as well as reintroducing us to familiar faces like Jim Gordon and Alfred Pennyworth. When Harvey Dent speaks, I can’t help but read it in Billy Dee Williams’ voice and that feels great. I love the idea of Batman being a wanted vigilante akin to how he was presented in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. The last few panels give us our first look at the character that will be Robin. I’m really excited to see where this is going and how much Bat-mythology can be introduced while maintaining the look and feel of the theatrical release.
the bad
Quinones’ art is great, but some panels miss the mark on capturing the look of the original actor and the tone of the book. Michael Keaton’s older Batman and Pat Hingle’s Jim Gordon bear little-to-no resemblance to their respective actors. The other major flaw is that the Gotham City of the Burtonverse was a character unto itself. The bleak and Gothic nature of the production design is missing
Batman/Infinite Frontier/DC Comics
BATMAN ‘89 #1
in this book. However, I realize that Hamm and Quinones are not Tim Burton and that’s not a bad thing. I’m glad they’re doing their own thing as they expand upon the original film. I’m anxious for more, primarily because I have so many questions about when this book is taking place. Is it after or before Batman Returns? When did Batman and Gordon develop their friendship? Here’s to hoping the second issue answers all those questions and more.
SCORE
8.0/10
COMIC BOOK REVIEW |
INFINITE FRONTIER #6 Writer: Joshua Williamson | Artist: Xermanico | Colorist: Romulo Fajardo Jr. It will forever have a special place in my heart. Here, Williamson does an excellent job recreating the feel of that series in so many ways. Xermanico’s art, although not quite at the level of George Perez, perfectly fits Williamson’s style. Matching artists to writers is something DC does well, with a few exceptions (sorry Batman ‘89) and they hit a homerun with this team. This book is a great conclusion and really has me excited for the future of DC Comics.
what’s it about?
Infinite Frontier comes to an end as President Superman, Thomas Wayne Batman, Omega Lantern Roy Harper, and heroes from across the Multiverse/Omniverse attempt to stop Darkside once and for all. What secrets does the Omega Planet hold? The future of DC starts where this issue ends. The Justice Incarnate struggles to save all of reality as the Flash unlocks the real puppet master behind everything.
the good
Crisis on Infinite Earths was the first event series I read as a child.
Omniverse to truly understand what’s going on in this one. Issue six may conclude the series but it’s not a conclusion by any means. If you ripped out the last few pages you might trick yourself into thinking your commitment to this six-issue event paid off.
the bad
This title didn’t have a great deal of hype behind it considering the ramifications for the future of the DC Universe that will result directly from its success. But it’s also so much fun that I’m surprised that DC didn’t push it harder. This book directly leads to major events in 2022 and, despite how great this series is as a whole, the last few pages are the most important factor in our understanding of those future events. You might want to skip this series and save your cash for next year. I love DC, but it does seem like you need a PhD in the Multiverse/
SCORE
8.0/10
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Writer: Nick Spencer | Artist: Federico Vicentini & Federico Sabbatini | Colorist: Alex Sinclair
what’s is about?
The Sinister War continues with The Amazing Spider-Man #71 as Mysterio takes Mary Jane away to an old hideout and Peter tangles with the Sinister Six. Mysterio’s past and redemption, as well as Kindred’s scheming, take center stage in this issue.
the good
Admittedly, I’m behind in my SpiderMan storylines. This issue does an excellent job recapping decades of Spidey mythology while maintaining a welcoming style for those who, like myself, are just hopping on for the Sinister War storyline. TASM #71 gives us a good amount of background into Mysterio and his quest to be redeemed. Nick Spencer does an amazing job of presenting the conflicted nature of Quentin Beck. This issue does a lot to make sense of a multitude of storylines that initially drove me away from reading Spiderstories in the first place. I’m anxious to see where this arc goes.
the bad
As I mentioned, I’m behind in my Spider-Man stories. I tuned out
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when Aunt May died. I was hoping to pop back on with this title and was overwhelmed by the amount of baggage I had to unpack to enjoy this issue. It doesn’t have much Spider-Man and only a few panels of the actual Sinister War into which it’s directly tied. Having multiple artists on a book is nothing new but it’s usually not insanely noticeable like it is here. Spencer carries the heavy burden of retconning past events rather than moving the story forward. I definitely need to brush up on my Spider-Man mythology, but I think I’ll stick to the main Sinister War books until this event is over.
SCORE
7.0/10
Amazing Spider-Man/Marvel Comics/Not All Robots/AWA Studios
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #71
COMIC BOOK REVIEW |
NOT ALL ROBOTS #1 Writer: Mark Russell | Artist: Mike Deodato Jr. | Colorist: Lee Loughridge
what’s is about?
In the year 2056, robots have replaced human beings in the workforce. An uneasy coexistence develops between the newly intelligent robots and the ten billion humans living on Earth. Every human family is assigned a robot upon whom they are completely reliant. What could possibly go wrong? Meet the Walters, a human family whose robot, Razorball, ominously spends his free time in the garage working on machines, which his family is pretty sure are designed to kill them in this sci-fi satire.
book did it! Don’t get me wrong, there are some incredibly grim elements to this story, but there are lighthearted ones as well. Seeing the robo-population deal with the same issues and insecurities as the rest of us gives the book a unique angle. The dark satire of robots replacing humans only to be on the verge of being replaced themselves by next generation bots is genius. The fragility of their society and the relationship that exists between the humans and the robots is both intriguing and frightening. This is an excellent debut issue.
the good
the bad
It’s rare that I laugh out loud reading a comic book these days, but this
Finding negative points is going to be difficult here, so bear with me because my main criticism may come from my own bias, not at any fault of the creators. This book reminds me of so much that I’ve seen before: everything from an Isaac Asimov story to a Futurama episode. Sometimes, when I read Razorball’s dialogue, I can’t help but hear it with Bender’s voice in my head and it actually fits perfectly. I’m looking forward to seeing where this story goes as both the human
and robot population struggle for relevance and survival. I’m anxious to see Russell take the characters, despite being drawn without a face by Mike Deodato Jr., and give them a voice of their own.
SCORE
9.5/10
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Almost American/Aftershock/Batman Superman/DC Comics
ALMOST AMERICAN #1 Writer: Ron Marz | Artist: Marco Castiello | Colorist: Flavio Dispenza
what’s is about?
In 2008, husband-and-wife Russian intelligence operatives walk into the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic in order to defect, making a deal to trade secrets for new lives. But instead of the American Dream, Janosh and Victorya Neumann find themselves caught up in red tape, bureaucracy, and turf wars between the FBI and CIA—all while their past tries to kill them.
the good
Almost American is cinematic in its presentation. This is certainly a book I’d recommend to someone who is suffering from superhero fatigue and wants to enter the world of espionage and intrigue. The artwork by Castiello is stunning. The character designs, settings, and page layout are masterfully presented. The fact that the story is based in part on the life and work of
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Janosh Neumann, a former Russian FSB, makes this book even more compelling. The companion time and interview that conclude the issue add a great deal to the experience.
the bad
Castiello’s art is amazing but at times static and lacking depth. Despite the superb dialogue presented throughout the issue, the characters are seldom drawn with their mouths open. I know that sounds like an unreasonable issue to take with the art but it becomes a distracting element. Overall, this was an excellent book. I’m hoping that as the series progresses we get a further glimpse into the world of spies and espionage, which are mostly just alluded to in this issue.
SCORE
8.5/10
COMIC BOOK REVIEW |
BATMAN SUPERMAN 2021 ANNUAL Writer: Gene Luen Yang | Artist: Paul Pelletier, Mick Gray, & Francesco Francavilla | Colorist: Hi-Fi
what’s is about?
The Batman of the noir-tinged streets of Gotham City finds himself stranded in the sunny, retro-futurist World of Tomorrow—and Superman discovers himself in the opposite predicament. With their home worlds in decay and only one chance to save them, the key to preserving their very existence is but the flip of a coin. Or the flip of this book! This special flip book is two times the story, with one full comic on one side and one full comic on the other, meeting in the middle! Follow Superman’s journey on one side of this epic flip book annual, and turn the adventure over to crusade with Batman and his trusty sidekick, Robin!
the good
Wow! Gene Luen Yang knows how to write a story that harkens back to the Silver Age of Comics. This issue references events that occurred in previous issues of Batman Superman but, unlike, say, The Amazing Spider-Man #71, knowing about those events is not a prerequisite to enjoy the events transpiring here. This is a fun tale set in different dimensions featuring a Dynamic Duo and Man of Steel that will feel very familiar to
both longtime fans and casual fans alike. I wouldn’t be surprised if this story became a classic with time, on par with some of the greatest Batman and Superman stories ever written.
the bad
Despite the dueling art styles of both stories and the gimmicky notion of both stories meeting in the middle with a flip, the issue works on every level. Some of Batman’s dialogue seems a tad out of character, especially the repeated notion of a villain’s “broken mind,” but overall the issue is astounding. This is definitely a world I want to see revisited and an issue that needs to be celebrated for a long time. Batman Superman 2021 Annual is my book of the month! SCORE
9.5/10
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SPOILER MAGAZINE
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The film industry is at a serious CROSSROADS. Like many other industries, they can blame it on COVID-19 all they want, and there’s plenty of validity to that, but the hard truth is that when it comes to the box office, Hollywood has been staring down the barrel of this loaded gun for years now— COVID just sped up the inevitable. Prior to 2020, ticket sales had stayed pretty consistent over time, albeit with a slight downward trend since their peak in 2002, yet still virtually as high as they were 30 years ago. However, with consumers’ habits shifting towards the convenience of streaming at home, now more than ever, theaters need to find ways to adapt. The question is, was this shift only a matter of time? In all my time trying to make it as a writer in Los Angeles, I got to sit down with only a handful of people who had the ability to actually get a film into production. But at some point in each conversation, I was given the same bit of advice, and it always went something like this: PRODUCER: You go to the movies? ME: Yeah. PRODUCER: How often? ME: Like, every few weeks. PRODUCER: More than most. How
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often do you watch TV? ME: Just about every day. PRODUCER: Exactly. Now start writing for TV if you ever wanna get work in this business. I’d have those kinds of conversations dating as far back as 2014. Admittedly, the jobs in television writing are tenfold of those in film, but now with a massive blow to the film industry, I imagine it even harder to rectify trying to make it as a screenwriter. And thanks to the lockdown, studios were left nowhere near ready to handle the potential hits they had to take. Take the Marvel movies, where prior to the pandemic, five of their last six releases made over a billion dollars worldwide. This year’s Black Widow, however, grossed under $400 million on a $200 million budget—a pandemic box office record. Last
Amir Hamja/Bloomberg/Getty Images/Shutterstock/Barewalls/ VENTS Magazine/Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images
BY ROBERT NAPOLITANO
month’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has made $250 million on a similar budget—which is relatively more impressive since its featured character is brand-new to the silver screen, as opposed to Black Widow’s titular character who had been in eight previous films. However, Shang-Chi was not simultaneously available to stream at home. But although both films technically “made a profit,” the way returns are distributed in Hollywood is hairy and tortuous, so believe it or not, Disney (who owns Marvel) actually looks at these as losses. This can’t keep up, and with recent news regarding a spike in COVID cases, many more tent pole movies have already been pushed back to 2022. (Are we ever going to see Morbius?) Of course, this has all been made more complicated by the recent lawsuit by Scarlett Johansson, star of Black Widow, who essentially sued Disney for releasing her movie on their Disney+ streaming service, thus making her significantly less money and even urging Disney’s Cruella star Emma Stone to make some waves herself. So now, with fear that this will be the fate of their future star-driven vehicles, Disney, one of the biggest companies in the world, is now in an incredibly difficult spot. Now let’s think about what started the snowball effect. The inflation of ticket prices and concessions haven’t helped, where frequent consumers—let alone the occasional moviegoer—now realize how much a $15 movie ticket and $6 bucket of popcorn actually costs, and have lived without these expenses as part of their lives for over a year. All of a sudden, a free movie at home (or even a $30 new release from Disney) with an infinitely greater selection
seems pretty nice, especially for people who took a financial hit during the pandemic, or even just got used to the experience of watching a big budget movie on a smaller screen. At the end of the day, maybe it all just comes down to convenience. Blockbuster basically died once we were all able to rent videos straight off the TV without ever getting off the couch. It’s comparable, sure, but to many of us there’s a big difference between renting a movie and going to the movies. Going to the movies can feel like an event. Whether you go with your parents, your kids, your friends, or a potential make-out partner, it’s all well and fun, and damn near every one of us grew up doing it. It’s hard to imagine a world where that just stops, even though it feels increasingly inevitable. So, what does the future hold? It’s hard to say really. Something tells me we’re going to see a decrease in budgets, at least for the mid-level studio films. And we may get to a point where only the big-budget productions will make it to the theater exclusively, the rest either solely released or simultaneously released on VOD. The blockbusters will still be made for a large sum of money, but even those might get scaled back. Studios might also start making less of the non-blockbusters in order to reassign money to the big budget fare. Marvel’s debut television series WandaVision did really well on Disney+ and The Mandalorian season 2 has also been a massive success—both beginning production prior to the lockdown.
If done well, studios may start to “relegate” concepts to TV shows or even limited series if possible, which will undoubtedly yield mixed results. What about the theaters themselves? Long term, who the hell knows, but short term I think creativity is king. First and foremost, bring back the drive-in. I know there are still some out there, but not nearly enough. If you live somewhere where the weather always sucks, then it might be trickier during certain times of the year, but otherwise there’s no excuse. I know in Los Angeles a lot of makeshift drive-in theaters or rooftop theaters cropped up during the pandemic, which is amazing to see. I think plenty of people would turn out, plus how expensive could it really be for the theater? We supply our own seats. Dine-in theaters seem to be making a little bit of a comeback. Love to see it. It’s more spaced out so there are less tickets to be sold for every showing, but if the food is good, then people will undoubtedly keep coming back. Plus that’s where the theater’s making their money anyway. A few days ago I read an article about a cannabis-friendly movie theater in a small town in Colorado. Simple, yet genius. This needs to catch on ASAP. Many of us know how great it is smoking a joint while watching a movie (as long as you’re of age and in a state where it’s legal to do so), and non-smokers won’t have to worry about dabblers sneaking it into normal theaters. People can light up before the opening credits roll, and nothing or nobody in this world can sell more concessions than Mary Jane. So states where marijuana is legal have
a clear advantage here, and one I hope more will begin to utilize. These are three ideas that have been proven to work, they just need to become more common now before it’s too late. I mentioned Blockbuster before and something I find so funny about that is the nostalgia it stirs up in people. Netflix even made a documentary called The Last Blockbuster and people loved it. I’ve heard others say it, and I’ve even thought it myself: Now that we have virtually every movie ever made right at our fingertips, we almost miss those days of getting in the car and hurrying over to the video store on a Friday night so we could get the last copy of a movie we’ve been dying to see. Then right before we’d pay, we’d scan under the counter and pick out our favorite box of candy. Nothing can replicate that whole experience, never knowing what you’d come home with (or how much you’d come home with). I bring up the way we remember Blockbuster because it’s essentially gone now, and many of us miss it in a weird way. I can only speak for myself, but deep down I feel like the permanent loss of movie theaters would be the same feeling, only multiply that by a million. The movie theaters are where many of us went on our first date, had our first kiss, had indelible experiences that we’ll never forget, and fell in love with movies for the very first time. If there’s ever a documentary called The Last Movie Theater I hope it’s long after I’m gone. All I know is I’d hate to see movie theaters become a thing of the past.
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SPOILER MAGAZINE
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BY VANESSA BELLEW
I always have been. For a long time I revelled in it as something that made me special or better, but the older I get and the more of the entertainment and various artistic industries I see, the more nuance I recognize in every situation. It’s not that I don’t still have opinions—I definitely, definitely do—but I have become less gleeful in the scalding hot take or damning rant (somewhat). There are certain missteps that are always worth condemning (rape is not a convenient plot device, dude writers!) but for the most part, all of my experience in life as a writer, an actor, a consumer of writing and acting, and a human being in a troubled world leads me to one undeniable conclusion: making things is hard. Making things isn’t just hard; if you’re doing it right, making things is brave. Isn’t that something we should be celebrating? Every time I write a review of something for this magazine, I worry that people will notice I only ever give positive reviews. I make some critiques, I mention where things don’t quite meet their potential, but by and large I choose to write
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Siskel & Ebert/Associated Press/Wallpaper Cave/ Sam McGhee/Unsplash/iStock/Pixabay
I have a confession to make: i am opinionated.
reviews of things that moved me in some way. Moving people, by the way, is the whole point of making things. Moving people is how you do art. This is because I am someone who sometimes makes things and sometimes those things I make are art and sometimes those things I make that are art do not meet their full potential. So I know how much goes into any act of creation. I know that every performance by an actor is the culmination of years and years of emotional dredging, weird physical exercises, fistfuls of money given to classes and coaches and schools, and a constant deluge of rejection and vulnerability that would probably kill most people. I also know that every performance is one moment in one session in one day. If it’s film, that take may have been chosen because of a lighting issue even though it was the actor’s worst. If it’s theater, maybe they’re having an off day. Imagine going into a space full of strangers and baring your soul and a person in the audience turns to their boyfriend and loudly says, “This is boring.” I know that sometimes writing a novel is a brutal process of selfdiscovery and discipline and crippling self-doubt overcome with grueling, spiteful determination that takes six years just to complete a first
draft. A common interpretation of giving birth in a dream is actually the birthing of a creative project. Imagine being pregnant and in labor for six years and when the first draft of the baby finally comes out, someone is like, “That baby is a piece of shit and I hate it.” Imagine those scenarios but the person devaluing your work, your life, your soul, or your baby does it in an internationally renowned and widely read newspaper or magazine. Now, whenever someone in Bangladesh with a subscription to the New York Times hears your name, they think, “I heard that person’s soul wasn’t very good.” As though that’s a fact.
Here’s a real fact: There is no such thing as an objective opinion and so there is no such thing as an objective review. A critic or reviewer is such a singular position in our society because it’s someone we give reverence, credence, and weight to; someone whose words we take to heart, but who ultimately has no real qualifications or training to do what they’re doing. They got assigned that beat by an editor while they were trying to work their way up to investigative journalist or the society pages or whatever their real dream is. (I had a boyfriend in high school who used to write pages and pages of reviews and carefully curated lists of the best 100 whatevers of all time who probably did dream of being a critic for Rolling Stone, but mostly he just wanted to be seen as a genius.) There’s nothing wrong with that, per se. In a vacuum, it’s fairly harmless to review something on your way to bigger and better things or even to review something because you’re an avid consumer of that thing...but we do not live in a vacuum. If we did live in a vacuum, it would suck. (Get it?) We don’t live in a vacuum and I know this because what a critic or reviewer says about a work of art or any one particular artist has the power to make or break careers, to make or break dreams. It can also put entire crews of people out of work.
It’s entirely arbitrary! Who gets to decide who reviews what in the first place? How much of a particular artform do you have to see before you get to cast judgments? Do you need to have majored in that art in college? Do you need to take a single course on its history? Do you even have to like it? Maybe you just have to be available and employed by the paper. For instance: Maybe the regular theatrical reviewer has a family function, so instead the Times sends someone who doesn’t actually know anything about theater, or absolutely can’t stand the lead in the play because she looks like an exgirlfriend, or maybe they just Don’t Get It. They write one bad review and that’s a moment for them, but it can be devastating for everyone else involved. A bad review from the right person at the right institution can shut down a full Broadway production that was a decade in the making after one preview performance. The less dangerous but sometimes galling other side of this coin is that a glowing review from a sufficiently powerful source can proliferate the worship of a mediocre artist and set an industry mode that ripples outward in an ever-expanding wave of shallow-but-
commercially-successful swill. ...but this is not the point. We’re not here to judge other people’s art! We’re here to judge the people judging people’s art. (That includes me.) The idea of a critic also makes for an environment rife with favoritism and the perpetuation of system inequalities. If a White writer reviews a show about a Black experience and they don’t like it, how can we truly know this is about the quality of the show and not about the subject matter and the reviewer’s discomfort? Will that show even merit a review from a White-owned newspaper or magazine? Being ignored by critics can in some ways be worse than being panned by them. At least if they mention you’re not good, people hear your name. And that’s...something? (It’s probably not.) It’s not even just about societal harm and impact. It’s also a matter of basic taste. If a woman who cannot stand watching any more gritty hourlong dramas about man pain and glorified vigilante violence reviews the newest show about drug-dealing cowboys in a motorcycle gang in space, will she be able to get past her own irritation with the subject matter to give the series a fair shot? (It’s me. I’m the woman. Although I would probably go hard for cowboys on motorcycles in space.) The history of critics reviewing art is full of stories of something being torn apart by critics only to be deeply important to the culture at large or even a very specific, underserved audience. Just because a critic isn’t ready for something doesn’t mean it isn’t great. Look at how many times Roger Ebert recanted a review
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years down the line after realizing a movie had real merit. Look at how many of our best painters found no commercial or critical success during their lifetimes! If I hate something, does it mean there’s nothing good or redeemable about it? Or does it just mean it’s not for me? Nobody’s forcing me to consume something (and in a critic’s case, they’re getting paid to experience what could very well be art!). If it’s not my thing, I can simply not watch it. Maybe it will inspire someone who does like it to make more art! Wouldn’t that be a miracle? Critics are biased. They are prejudiced. They are human. And as far as I know, there’s no oversight committee certifying that a critic knows what the hell they’re talking about or has any valid basis for holding that position of power. There’s no board of review for the reviewers. There’s no malpractice suits when the dick du jour at AFI trashes the little indie film you put your entire being into and floated out into the world like a paper lantern, hopeful but fragile. There’s no way to rebut in your own defense in the paper of record unless you’re already so successful that you can probably survive a bad review in the first place. And now it’s just out there, forever, when
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someone Googles your name, that one time some French chick with the New York Times who hates science fiction and anything with depth was always dead set against liking you and the beautiful art you made. Don’t get me wrong: I’m always here for think-pieces about the impact (harmful or beneficial) of a work or works of art on society. I love a good article stumping for progress and change in representation or topic. Give me your tired trope takedowns, your poor artist’s op ed about capitalism in the industry, your huddled masses of “don’t reboot this” essays yearning to breathe free! But it’s also worth noting that a trope isn’t inherently bad (usually) and sometimes (occasionally) capitalism funds the right project at the right time and every so often (rarely) a reboot is actually great and revitalizes a dormant genre.
As it turns out, strong opinions aren’t rare or unique or special. In the age of social media (she said, using an actual modern cliché), what we have now is a surplus—nay, a flood— of opinions. We are inundated with them all day every day, so that we can no longer tell which are expert and which are ignorant, if we ever could. This is especially true when we give those opinions an official platform with a wide reaching audience and an authoritative title. So what am I advocating here? I don’t think it’s to fire all critics summarily into the sun. It’s probably not realistic to demand they all take a mandatory 6-week intensive about the whole history of the medium they’re going to be reviewing. I doubt anyone will listen to me if I suggest we stop writing bad reviews and, after all, some things need and deserve a response to their awfulness. I guess what I’m looking for is some consideration from anyone who sets out to criticize someone else’s brave, difficult work that the focus be on the issues without dismissing the art entirely, that we avoid casting final judgment on the worth of someone as a human or an artist, and that we all remember that critiques don’t exist in a vacuum... even if they suck. Your words, like in the rest of life, have consequences for you and for others. Maybe I just want us to be more respectful of the work. Maybe I just want us to be gentler with each other. Maybe I’ve just been watching a lot of Ted Lasso.
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Adobe Stock/Wallpaper Flare/Warner Bros. Pictures
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