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For a lot of horror fans, October is their favorite month of the year, giving us 31 full days to watch even more horror movies than we do throughout the rest of the year, including films that are set on the holiday that ends the month: Halloween. Of course, the Halloween-set horror movies that get the most views are the slasher movies that share their name with the holiday. So with fresh viewings of every Halloween movie taken in, we have assembled a list: Halloween Movies Ranked, from worst to best. Check it out:

Halloween: Resurrection (2002)

Director Rick Rosenthal did such a good job emulating the style of John Carpenter when he made Halloween II, bringing him back to direct the follow-up to H20 seemed like a great idea. It turned out to be a mistake. Rosenthal didn’t have great material to work with: the movie walks back the ending...

Sure, there are plenty of new and classic horror movies on streaming this year. But there’s nothing that beats the sensation of sliding a disc into a Blu-ray player. It harkens back to the thrill of going to your local video store, picking out a scary movie and taking it home.

We thought we’d celebrate that sensation by picking out our very favorite new home video releases for this Halloween, a mixture of obscure favorites, outright classics, near-hits from some of our favorite modern filmmakers and a new movies that gets a terrific home video treatment. Grab some candy, your comfiest pajamas and settle in for the night with these gems.

Janus “Demon Pond”

One of the season’s must-have titles is “Demon Pond,” a bizarro, late-‘70s nightmare from Masahiro Shinoda, whose “Pale Flower” and “Double Suicide” are already a part of the Criterion Collection. Shinoda updates...

With things constantly being swapped out or deleted from your favorite streaming service, a commitment to physical media should be stronger now than ever before. And thankfully both big studios and smaller boutique labels understand how important physical releases are.

We are running down the very best 4K Blu-ray and DVD releases from July and August 2024.

“Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” MGM

One of the most hotly anticipated home video releases of the year is here – and it was worth the wait. Sam Peckinpah’s highly contested western, about an older Pat Garrett (James Coburn) hired to track down and kill Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson), was taken away from the filmmaker in post-production and released in a truncated version that he and several of the cast and crew members outspokenly derided. This Criterion release acknowledges and engages with the various iterations of the movie, with 4K discs devoted...

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

Ghoulies II 4K Uhd from Mvd

Ghoulies II will pop up on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on July 9 as part of Mvd’s 4K LaserVision Collection. The 1987 sequel has been has been newly restored in 4K from the original camera negative with Dolby Vision/Hdr and Lpcm 2.0 Stereo Audio.

Both the 90-minute theatrical and 91-minute unrated cuts are included, along with reversible artwork, a slipcover, and a mini poster.

Albert Band (I Bury the Living) directs from a script by Dennis Paoli. Damon Martin, Royal Dano, Phil Fondacaro, J. Downing, and Kerry Remsen star. Charles Band executive produces.

Special features include: More Toilets, More Terror: The Making of Ghoulies 2 with Remsen, Charles Band, actor Donnie Jeffcoat,...

Earlier this year, we caught word that Arrow Video’s 4K box set release of the first four Hellraiser movies (get it Here) would include a workprint cut of the 1996 installment, Hellraiser: Bloodline (watch that one Here), allowing fans the chance to see what the movie was going to be like before Dimension Films started tinkering with it. Now that the Arrow Video box set is available, JoBlo’s own Lance Vlcek has a copy of the Hellraiser: Bloodline workprint – and in the video embedded above, he offers his review of this cut of the film, comparing it to the theatrical version we’ve been watching for over twenty-five years. To hear all about this Hellraiser: Bloodline workprint vs. theatrical cut match-up, hit play on the video!

Hellraiser: Bloodline was a famously troubled production, with director Kevin Yagher leaving the project when distributor Miramax / Dimension demanded substantial reshoots. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers...

The fourth installment of the Hellraiser franchise, Hellraiser: Bloodline, was the last film of the series to be released theatrically. It was also notorious for its troubled production, eventually leading director Kevin Yagher to walk away when Miramax demanded reshoots. Miramax then brought in Joe Chappelle to complete the film.

When Yagher saw the finished cut of Hellraiser: Bloodline, post reshoots, it’d become so removed from his vision that he had his name removed from the credits using the Alan Smithee pseudonym, as did Chappelle. While Yagher’s version of the prequel/sequel is lost to time, Arrow’s Hellraiser: Bloodline Workprint assembles the footage Yagher shot, offering fans the closest we’ll ever get to a Director’s Cut. Arrow’s workprint makes for a more coherent and fascinating version of the troubled franchise installment.

Hellraiser: Bloodline spans time, tracing a family lineage that began with Philippe “Toymaker...

Since the earliest days of cinema, the horror genre has been a beloved source of entertainment, especially sub-genres like slashers. Some of the greatest horror films opt for a condensed timeline, with many taking place across a single day, some almost told in real time. This allows viewers to better identity with the characters in their tense encounters with killers and monsters, almost making it seem real.

Horror movies' use of condensed time as compared with other genres is vital in establishing the intense and urgent tone of their stories. This allows for the fear of the story to grow, and places viewers in a time frame that can feel more surreal and heighten their fear. All horror movies have strength in different pacing, but the tighter the story the scarier it can be for audiences to watch.

Phantoms

Release Date

January 26, 1998

Director

Joe Chappelle

Cast

Peter O'Toole, Rose McGowan,...

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers is considered the worst film in the franchise, with a poor rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. The movie was criticized for its convoluted plot, lack of suspense, and reliance on typical slasher tactics. Quentin Tarantino had an intriguing concept for Halloween 6, involving a road trip with Michael Myers and the Man in Black, but ultimately passed on the project, potentially missing an opportunity to improve the franchise.

For a franchise as vast as Halloween, it's no secret there are a few duds in the bunch, and one of the most memorably bad installments is Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, which could have actually been saved if this famous directors had taken the reins. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers is the sixth installment in the Halloween franchise, which follows the murderous activities of serial killer, Michael Myers. Released in 1995, Halloween 6...

John Carpenter's "Halloween" is one of the finest horror films ever made. Rick Rosenthal's "Halloween II" is one or 12 steps down from that.

Carpenter's original is also one of the most successful independent productions of all time. It launched the slasher film craze, made Jamie Lee Curtis a star and, thanks to the white-masked Michael Myers, spawned lifelong nightmares in the subconscious of every kid who begged their parents to let them watch it. Forty-five years on, "Halloween" is still a wildly effective, brilliantly crafted film. It is, per its tagline, "The Night He Came Home." "Halloween II" was unimaginatively sold as "More of the Night He Came Home." It's basically the "More American Graffiti" of horror flicks, and, like that film, it's better than its reputation suggests.

Having established himself as a genre auteur, Carpenter bowed out of directing the sequel and set his sights on "The Fog.

John Carpenter's 1978 horror film "Halloween" was famously inspired by 1960s serial killer films like Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" and Powell/Pressburger's "Peeping Tom," only filtered through a low-budget, '70s grindhouse lens. Initially, "Halloween" was dismissed by audiences, but legend has it that Roger Ebert's overwhelmingly positive 1979 review saved it from obscurity. This may seem like an odd piece of trivia, given that Ebert infamously hated the slasher genre that "Halloween" helped spawn. 

For the uninitiated, the original "Halloween" was about an empty-eyed young child, Michael Myers, who killed his big sister in cold blood on Halloween night in 1963. For fifteen years, Michael was kept in an insane asylum where he never spoke a word and stared blankly at a wall. Michael breaks out of the hospital in 1978, travels back to his old neighborhood, dons a creepy white-face mask, and begins stalking and murdering babysitters on Halloween night.

Released in 1996, and co-directed by makeup effects artist Kevin Yagher and Joe Chappelle, fourth franchise installment Hellraiser: Bloodline served the dual role of being a prequel and a sequel, telling a centuries-spanning story that documents the puzzle box’s beginning and end. While horror fans have come to appreciate the ambitious “Pinhead in Space” movie in recent years, it’s the behind the scenes drama of the production that often takes center stage.

For starters, Kevin Yagher was replaced by Joe Chappelle before production was completed, and both filmmakers ultimately declined to have their names attached to the finished product.

That’s why Hellraiser: Bloodline is credited to the fake director “Alan Smithee.”

As Meagan Navarro explained here on Bd back in 2020, “Writer Peter Atkins and director Kevin Yagher originally envisioned a sprawling story that took place in three separate timelines, with the past, present, and future tied to a single man.

There has been a myriad of bad films since the medium's inception, but some movies have performed so badly that their own directors have gone so far as to disown their creations. Directors taking their names off a movie's credits isn't something new. However, it's hard to imagine creating something and then hating it so much that one doesn't even want their name attached. This has been the case with a number of movies over the years, and even a few well-known directors have turned against their own art, publicly criticizing the film in question and trying to create as much distance from it as possible.

Since there are so many factors that go into making a feature film, that inevitably means there are plenty of ways to fail in producing a satisfying finished product. Some movies suffer from pacing issues or a lack of onscreen chemistry from the cast...

After being saved from a crash-landing by Netflix just two years ago, “Manifest” has just about reached its final destination. The NBC supernatural drama-turned Netflix original will premiere the back half of its fourth and final season on June 2, the streamer announced Friday. The news was accompanied by a teaser for the final episodes.

Created by Jeff Rake, “Manifest” debuted on NBC in September 2018. The show was a ratings success in its first season, attracting 10.3 million viewers for its pilot episode. The show’s numbers steadily declined across its following two seasons, and NBC pulled the plug on the drama in June 2021.

Although that cancellation would typically be the end of the series’ flight plan, “Manifest” unexpectedly found a new set of wings on Netflix. The streaming giant added all three “Manifest” seasons the same month NBC grounded the drama; the show quickly found an entirely new audience on the streamer,...

Yul Vázquez is teaming up with Forest Whitaker in the upcoming third season of Godfather of Harlem as a new series regular.

Godfather of Harlem tells a story inspired by infamous crime boss Bumpy Johnson (Whitaker), who in the early 1960s returned from eleven years in prison to find the neighborhood he once ruled in shambles. Season Three will find Bumpy Johnson continuing to battle for control of Harlem, with other aspirants to the throne, namely the Cuban Mafia from neighboring Spanish Harlem. Taking on the Cuban mob will put Bumpy, his loved ones, and his community in the crosshairs of not only the rival Italians, but ruthless Latin assassins and, ultimately, the CIA. Godfather of Harlem is a collision of the criminal underworld and the civil rights movement during one of the most tumultuous times in American history.

Vázquez portrays Jose Miguel Battle, a former Cuban policeman who reestablishes...

Bumpy Johnson is back, and he’s ready to reclaim his territory in the Season 3 of “Godfather of Harlem.” In an exclusive clip and two exclusive photos, Johnson weighs his options as he sets his sights on new opportunities. Season 3 is set to premiere Jan. 15, 2023, on MGM+.

“If I go south of 110th St., I gotta smile, bow and and scrape. If I assert myself to a white man in a way that he doesn’t like, I get billy clubbed and I get put in jail. But, up here, it’s different. I get respect. I call the shots. Me, and me alone,” says Johnson, who is played by Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker, in an exclusive clip.

In each shot of the teaser, viewers get a glance of Johnson’s next business deals and business partners, and the harsh realities and the Black community faced during the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

I’m still astonished that you can own the so-called “producer’s cut” of Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers on 4K Ultra HD. It was the first bootleg movie I ever purchased, courtesy of eBay, as I believed that the murky DVD-r sourced from a generations-old VHS would be the only way to ever see the alternate footage from the franchise’s 1995 sixth installment.

Scream Factory shocked fans with the producer’s cut’s first official release as part of its 2014 Blu-ray box set, Halloween: The Complete Collection. They’ve done it again with The Halloween 4K Collection (1995-2002) box set, which features both the theatrical and producer’s cuts newly scanned in 4K from the original camera negative, presented in Dolby Vision with DTS-hd Master Audio 5.1 and Stereo options.

Even before seeing the alternate version, I had a soft spot for The Curse of Michael Myers. It’s...

There’s a new Halloween movie in theatres and on the Peacock streaming service right now – and it looks like Halloween Ends (read our review Here) is going to be a divisive one for fans of the franchise. So to coincide with the release of that film, we have decided to look back at another divisive entry in the Halloween franchise: the sixth one, which was released in 1995. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (watch the theatrical cut Here and the producer’s cut Here). But we’re not here to tear Curse down. We’re here to say some positive things about this Black Sheep of the Halloween series. To find out why we think it deserves more appreciation, check out the video embedded above.

Directed by Joe Chappelle from a screenplay by Daniel Farrands, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers has the following synopsis:

In a single horrifying night,...

In just a few weeks, we’ll be getting a new entry in the Hellraiser franchise. A reboot directed by David Bruckner, starring Jamie Clayton as Pinhead, that’s set to be released through the Hulu streaming service on October 7th. In anticipation of the new film, we’re looking back at one of the previous Hellraiser movies. One that could be considered The Black Sheep – or one of the black sheep in a franchise that has several of them. The one we’re looking at today is Hellraiser: Bloodine (watch it Here). To find out what we had to say about it, check out the video embedded above.

Hellraiser: Bloodline was initially directed by Kevin Yagher, then Joe Chappelle came in to handle the reshoots. The film is credited to the non-existent Alan Smithee. Scripted by Peter Atkins, it has the following synopsis:

Three generations of the same family...

Peter O'Toole's acting career spanned seven decades and involved hundreds of roles, a million sardonic smirks, and no small amount of liquor. On screen, O'Toole could be heroic, villainous, affable, and off-putting, sometimes all at once. In interviews, O'Toole was frank and unguarded, quick with a jibe, and unwilling to suffer fools. O'Toole and his frequent collaborator, the actor Richard Harris, have both appeared on many talk shows toward the ends of their lives to tell many, many stories of getting drunk together. 

Somewhere along the way, O'Toole garnered enough fame and clout to more or less select any project he wanted. By the time he starred in Peter Medak's "The Ruling Class" in 1972, O'Toole had already appeared in 18 feature films, including a James Bond movie. That same year, O'Toole would appear in "Under Milk Wood" and a film adaptation of "Man of La Mancha." One might say...

Black Bird WhatsHerName Plot Synopsis and Air Date — Apple TV+‘s Black Bird: Season 1, Episode 4: WhatsHerName plot synopsis and air date have been released. Crew Black Bird stars Taron Egerton, Paul Walter Hauser, Ray Liotta, Greg Kinnear, Sepideh Moafi, and Robert Diago DoQui. Michaël R. Roskam, Joe Chappelle, and Jim McKay directed the episodes [...]

Continue reading: Black Bird: Season 1, Episode 4: WhatsHerName Plot Synopsis & Air Date [Apple TV+]...

Black Bird Hand to Mouth Plot Synopsis and Air Date — Apple TV+‘s Black Bird: Season 1, Episode 3: Hand to Mouth plot synopsis and air date have been released. Crew Black Bird stars Taron Egerton, Paul Walter Hauser, Ray Liotta, Greg Kinnear, Sepideh Moafi, and Robert Diago DoQui. Michaël R. Roskam, Joe Chappelle, and Jim [...]

Continue reading: Black Bird: Season 1, Episode 3: Hand to Mouth Plot Synopsis & Air Date [Apple TV+]...

Exclusive: Michael Raymond-Jamesn (Sweet Girl) has been tapped for the key role of mob boss Joe Colombo opposite Forrest Whitaker in the upcoming third season of Epix drama series Godfather of Harlem.

Created by Chris Brancato and Paul Eckstein, Godfather of Harlem tells a story inspired by infamous crime boss Bumpy Johnson (Whitaker), who in the early 1960s returned from eleven years in prison to find the neighborhood he once ruled in shambles. Season 3 will find Bumpy Johnson continuing to battle for control of Harlem, with other aspirants to the throne, namely the Cuban Mafia from neighboring Spanish Harlem. Taking on the Cuban mob will put Bumpy, his loved ones, and his community in the crosshairs of not only the rival Italians, but ruthless Latin assassins and, ultimately, the CIA. Godfather of Harlem is a collision of the criminal underworld and the civil rights movement during one of the most tumultuous times in American history.

Click here to read the full article.

Disclaimer: No matter what you may have gathered from film and television, given the opportunity to sit down in a sterile room opposite a manacled serial killer, chances are very poor that you would be able to get him to share intimate details about his crimes and subtextual lessons about life.

Just because you see things done in scripted form doesn’t mean you can execute them in real life, and just because something was done in real life doesn’t mean it’s going to be transferred believably into scripted form. Oh, and just because something real isn’t transferred believably into scripted form doesn’t necessarily mean the result will be bad.

Dennis Lehane’s new six-part drama, Black Bird, is based on James Keene’s memoir In With the Devil: A Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption.

Exclusive: Jason Alan Carvell (NCIS: New Orleans) has been tapped to play the key role of Malcolm X in the upcoming third season of Epix drama series Godfather of Harlem in a recasting. Production begins this week in New York on the series, starring Forrest Whitaker.

Created by Chris Brancato and Paul Eckstein, Godfather of Harlem tells a story inspired by infamous crime boss Bumpy Johnson (Whitaker), who in the early 1960s returned from eleven years in prison to find the neighborhood he once ruled in shambles. Season 3 will find Bumpy Johnson continuing to battle for control of Harlem, with other aspirants to the throne, namely the Cuban Mafia from neighboring Spanish Harlem. Taking on the Cuban mob will put Bumpy, his loved ones, and his community in the crosshairs of not only the rival Italians, but ruthless Latin assassins and, ultimately, the CIA. Godfather of Harlem is a...

Black Bird Trailer — Apple TV+‘s Black Bird (2022) movie trailer has been released. The Black Bird trailer stars Taron Egerton, Paul Walter Hauser, Ray Liotta, Greg Kinnear, Sepideh Moafi, and Robert Diago DoQui. Crew Michaël R. Roskam, Joe Chappelle, and Jim McKay directed the episodes of Black Bird. Dennis Lehane wrote the screenplay for [...]

Continue reading: Black Bird (2022) TV Show Trailer: Taron Egerton Tries to Elicit a Confession from Killer Paul Walter Hauser...

Apple TV+ has debuted a trailer for “Black Bird,” the streamer’s upcoming psychological thriller limited series starring Taron Egerton and Ray Liotta. The project is set to premiere on July 8.

The six-episode series follows Jimmy Keene (Egerton), a high school football hero and the son of decorated policeman “Big Jim” (Liotta), who is sentenced to 10 years in a minimum security prison. He is given the choice of a lifetime: enter a maximum-security prison for the criminally insane and befriend suspected serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser) or stay where he is and serve his full sentence with no possibility of parole. “Black Bird” is based on the 2010 true crime memoir “In With the Devil.”

“I never wanted this for you,” Liotta says in the trailer as Big Jim, visiting Keene in prison. “I wanted a totally different life. A steady paycheck. Kids. A family.”

“Dad. Tell me there...

Apple on Wednesday unveiled the trailer for Black Bird, its six-episode original limited series from executive producer Dennis Lehane. The psychological thriller is set to debut globally Apple TV+ on July 8.

Taron Egerton, Paul Walter Hauser, Greg Kinnear, Sepideh Moafi and Ray Liotta star in the Apple Studios-produced series, which was adapted from the true crime memoir In With the Devil: A Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption by James Keene and Hillel Levin.

The series represents the last TV work of Liotta, the Goodfellas and Field of Dreams star who died May 26 at age 67. Lehane, the true crime author behind the likes of Mystic River and Live By Night and who developed, wrote and EPs Black Bird, penned a moving tribute to Liotta after the actor died in his sleep while shooting a film on location in the Dominican Republic. The author called...

Taron Egerton is going deep undercover as a snitch in maximum security prison to entice a confession out of a suspected serial killer in a bid for his own early release in the trailer for “Black Bird.”

The Apple TV+ series, which debuts with two episodes on July 8, finds Egerton playing Jimmy Keene, a decorated policeman’s son (Ray Liotta), who is sentenced to 10 years behind bars. But, with the authorities needing help in solving a series of gruesome murders, and suspect Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser) in supermax, Keene is offered the opportunity to go to the prison for the criminally insane, and elicit a confession.

Things get hairy for Egerton’s Keene as the trailer shows, as he deals with violence, the mentally ill and solitary confinement.

New episodes of the six-episode psychological thriller will drop every Friday though August 5.

Also Read:

Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser...

The passengers of Flight 828 are boarding once again. Netflix has released a first look clip for Season 4 of supernatural drama series “Manifest.”

The clip was launched as part of Netflix’s Geeked Week event, and was introduced by Josh Dallas, who plays Ben Stone in the series. The clip features series lead Michaela Stone (Melissa Roxburgh), an NYPD detective, investigating a construction site. While looking through the site, she discovers a mysterious figure with the words “Stone 828” cut into his arm.

Created by Jeff Rake, “Manifest” revolves around Michaela and Ben, two siblings who are passengers on a commercial flight that encounters a brief period of turbulence. Once they land, they discover that five and a half years have passed for the rest of the world, during which they were presumed dead. The show follows Michaela, Ben and other survivors as they readjust to a new world, and develop bizarre...

After NBC canceled “Manifest” last June, Netflix swooped in to save the sci-fi series and is now preparing to roll out its upcoming fourth and final season in two parts. And on Monday, the streamer gave fans a first look clip.

In the sneak peek, released as part of Netflix’s Geeked Week, Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh) goes undercover at a shipping yard, looking for clues among the cargo holders.

On Monday Netflix confirmed that each portion of Season 4 will consist of 10 episodes each.

Following the show’s cancellation, an online #SaveManifest fan campaign was launched. The show then debuted its back episodes on Netflix in July, where it would accrue more than 7 billion viewing minutes in the U.S. through late September. It also claimed the most-watched streaming title overall six times in that span, according to Nielsen. In late August of last year, Netflix announced that it had ordered...

Ray Liotta had recently wrapped shooting Apple’s upcoming series Black Bird, his final completed television series, shortly before his death. In a heartfelt remembrance Thursday, series creator Dennis Lehane fondly remembered Liotta as “the most electric American actor of his generation.” Lehane revealed that it “was the culmination of a lifelong dream” to work with Liotta and that he wrote the role of Big Jim Keene specifically for the Emmy-winning actor, describing his performance as a “master class.” Lehane also shares their funny and poignant interactions on set. You can read his entire tribute below.

Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery

The upcoming limited series, set for premiere July 8 on Apple TV+, marked Liotta’s return to series television as a lead opposite Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser. An adaptation of James Keene and Hillel Levin’s true-crime memoir, In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer,...

“Black Bird,” a limited series starring Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser, will premiere on Apple TV Plus this July 8, the streamer announced Thursday.

Based on James Keene and Hillel Levin’s true crime memoir “In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, and A Dangerous Bargain for Redemption,” “Black Bird” stars Egerton as Keene, a police officer’s son who is sentenced to 10 years in a minimum security prison for drug dealing. While serving his sentence, he is offered a chance for early parole, on the condition that he move to a prison for the criminally insane and befriend serial killer Larry Hall (Hauser). Keene reluctantly agrees to the unusual case, and develops a complicated relationship with Hall as he attempts to discover the truth behind the murders the convict is suspected of committing. In addition to Egerton and Hauser, the series also stars Sepideh Moafi, Greg Kinnear and Ray Liotta.

Epix has renewed its drama series “Godfather of Harlem” for a third season, the network announced on Thursday morning.

Forest Whitaker returns as crime boss Bumpy Johnson, alongside a cast that includes Vincent D’Onofrio, Ilfenesh Hadera, Nigél Thatch, Lucy Fry and Antoinette Crowe-Legacy.

“I’m thrilled to be returning to my show, working alongside our truly incredible cast, crew, and writers, as we tell this unique and powerful story,” Whitaker said in a statement. “I can’t wait to get back to set, and thank [Epix president] Michael Wright, Epix, ABC Signature and our dedicated fans for their support.”

Notably, Epix did not include series star Giancarlo Esposito in its press release announcing the production’s returning cast. Insiders suggest that there is still strong interest in Esposito returning to the series, as his character is considered one of the integral elements of the show’s overall storyline.

The show’s third...

Epix has renewed the Forest Whitaker-led Godfather of Harlem for a 10-episode third season.

The critically acclaimed drama from ABC Signature is scheduled to begin production on Season 3 in New York this summer.

The renewal follows a strong second season, Epix’s best-performing season of all time, according to the network. The series broke records for any single title streams in a single day across Epix’s digital platforms, and the season two finale was the network’s best performing finale episode to date, according to Epix.

Created by Chris Brancato and Paul Eckstein, Godfather of Harlem tells a story inspired by infamous crime boss Bumpy Johnson (Whitaker), who in the early 1960s returned from eleven years in prison to find the neighborhood he once ruled in shambles.

Season 3 will find Bumpy Johnson continuing to battle for control of Harlem, with other aspirants to the throne, namely the Cuban Mafia from neighboring Spanish Harlem.

Dalip Sethi has been promoted to partner at Los Angeles-based management/production company Rain Management Group.

Dalip has been with Rmg since 2009, joining the company as an assistant. He was promoted to manager in 2012, and has since built an impressive television and film client roster with a focus on writers, filmmakers, producer-directors and showrunners. His client list includes Ryan Maldonado & Eduardo Canto, Ryan Shiraki, Bob Dearden, Nina Lopez-Corrado, Joe Chappelle, Stacey K. Black, Jorge Zamacona, Steve Robin, Jessica Kaminsky, Craig Siebels, Jim & Steve Armogida, Ron McGee, Ryan Zaragoza (Madres) and Daryl Wein (Something From Tiffany’s) among several others.

“Dalip’s partnership is greatly deserved and part of our...

Bumpy Johnson’s wild ride through New York’s criminal underworld continues on August 8, when Godfather of Harlem returns for the back half of its second season.

In Epix’s crime drama created by Chris Brancato and Paul Eckstein, Oscar winner Forest Whitaker plays the infamous crime boss, who wars with the Italian mob to regain control of his home turf when he gets out of Alcatraz in the early 1960s, aligning himself at the same time with Malcolm X (Nigel Thatch).

In Season 2, the series continues to examine the connection between crime, politics and systemic racism in America, then and now. The intersection between these facets of American culture is explored in depth in the midseason finale, “The Ballot or the Bullet,” which was written by Brancato & Michael Panes and which you can read in full below.

The episode sees a sense of political consciousness awakening within Johnson, as...

“Manifest” has been canceled at NBC after three seasons, Variety has confirmed.

The news comes as the supernatural drama has been released on Netflix, where it currently sits at No. 1 in the streamer’s U.S. Top 10. However, sources tell Variety that the show is hoping to find a new home elsewhere.

The single-camera series had generally produced favorable ratings, particularly in its first season, during which three additional episodes were added.

“Manifest,” produced by Warner Bros. Television and Universal Television, was created by Jeff Rake and originally sold as a six-season plan. The series premiered in September 2018 and follows the crew and passengers of a commercial plane who suddenly reappear after being presumed dead for five years. As they reintegrate into society, the passengers discover that their family members and friends are not the same as before — and neither are they, as the begin to experience visions of the future,...

In today’s TV news roundup, Paramount Plus set the release date for the seventh and final season of “Younger,” and Mindy Kaling has joined the cast of “Monsters At Work.”

Dates

Paramount Plus announced that the seventh and final season of “Younger” will premiere on April 15. The first four episodes will be available to stream at premiere, while the remaining eight episodes will drop weekly on Thursdays. Additionally, the full season will air on TV Land later this year. “Younger” follows Liza Miller (Sutton Foster), a talented editor navigating the highly competitive world of publishing — while juggling the complications of mixing business with pleasure and facing the lie she created about her age to land her dream job. In the final season, Liza’s personal life is on shaky ground as she tries to stay true to herself. After a setback at work, Kelsey (Hillary Duff) doubts her career...

Godfather of Harlem expands its cast with the addition of Justin Bartha, Annabella Sciorra and Ronald Guttman, who will take on recurring roles in season two of the Epix drama. Also set to recur are Gino Cafarelli and Isaach De Bankolé.

Also coming to the crime drama as guest stars are Method Man, Michael Rispoli, Neal Matarazzo and Grace Porter, who was previously announced to appear as Betty Shabazz. Erik Laray Harvey and Demi Singleton have also been upped to series regulars for season 2, which will premiere Sunday, April. 18.

Godfather of Harlem season 2 sees Bumpy Johnson (Forest Whitaker) battling the New York Crime Families for control of the lucrative and murderous “French Connection,” the pipeline for heroin that runs from Marseilles to New York Harbor. With a distribution syndicate that includes black crime bosses from other major U.S. cities, Bumpy takes a cue from his friend Malcolm X’s...

Exclusive: Verve has acquired veteran TV lit agent Paul Alan Smith’s New Deal Mfg. Co., a boutique lit agency representing a bevy of television and film directors.

New Deal’s founding partner Smith and agent Tyler Reynolds will join Verve where they will continue to represent their clients, some of whom have been with Smith for decades. New Deal’s other founding partner, Lee Rosenbaum, who has served as chief operating officer and general counsel to the firm, will continue as an adviser to the agency.

New Deal’s clients joining Verve include Niels Arden Oplev, Allen Coulter, Tawfik Abu Wael (Our Boys), Oded Ruskin, Adam Arkin (Rebel), Milena Govich (FBI), Elodie Keene (Glee), Leslie Libman (The Manson Murders), Daniel Syrkin (Tehran), Sheelin Choksey (Stargirl), Charles Burnett (To Sleep With Anger...

Epix has renewed “Godfather of Harlem” for a second season. Forest Whitaker executive produces and stars as Bumpy Johnson on the ABC Signature Studios series.

The 10-episode sophomore season, created by Chris Brancato and Paul Eckstein, will begin production in New York later this year.

“‘Godfather of Harlem’ season one was a remarkable success, tripling previous viewership numbers for the network and earning acclaim from both critics and viewers alike,” said Michael Wright, president of Epix. “We couldn’t wait to reunite with Chris, Paul, Forest and the team at ABC Signature to continue telling this compelling and extremely relevant story.”

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“Godfather of Harlem” tells a story inspired by crime boss Bumpy Johnson (Whitaker), who in the early 1960s returned from 11 years in prison...

“Godfather of Harlem,” starring Forest Whitaker, has been renewed for a second season at Epix.

Production on the 10-episode second season, created by Chris Brancato and Paul Eckstein, will begin production in New York later in 2020.

“’Godfather of Harlem’ season one was a remarkable success, tripling previous viewership numbers for the network and earning acclaim from both critics and viewers alike,” said Epix president Michael Wright. “We couldn’t wait to reunite with Chris, Paul, Forest and the team at ABC Signature to continue telling this compelling and extremely relevant story.”

The series centers around a story inspired by infamous crime boss Bumpy Johnson (Whitaker), who in the early 1960s returned from eleven years in prison to find the neighborhood he once ruled in shambles. With the streets controlled by the Italian mob, Bumpy must take on the Genovese crime family to regain control.

In addition to Whitaker, who is also an executive producer,...

Forest Whitaker-led Godfather of Harlem is coming back for another go-round. Epix has renewed the drama series, from ABC Signature, for a 10-episode second season. Production on season 2 will begin in New York later this year.

While Epix does not release viewership data, Godfather of Harlem, boosted by strong word of mouth, has been a breakout hit, becoming the network’s top series. Epix President Michael Wright revealed some ratings data in announcing the drama’s renewal.

“Godfather of Harlem season one was a remarkable success, tripling previous viewership numbers for the network and earning acclaim from both critics and viewers alike,” said Wright. “We couldn’t wait to reunite with Chris, Paul, Forest and the team at ABC Signature to continue telling this compelling and extremely relevant story.”

While never in doubt, the Season 2 renewal for Godfather of Harlem comes more than two months after Season 1 ended its run on the network.

Phantoms’ (1998): Starring Ben Affleck and Rose McGowan, the 1998 film adaption of Dean Kootz’s novel recounts the tale of small-town Snowfield, Colorado plagued by a subterranean entity known only as the Ancient Enemy. The visiting Lisa Pailey (McGowan) and local law enforcement officers team up to combat the mysterious force and to revert the town back to peace and well-being. Though “Phantoms,” directed by Joe Chappelle, makes for cheap thrills with some unexpected jump scares, its convoluted storyline and shoddy special effects job warrant more laughs than screams.

Mirrors’ (2008) Alexandre Aja’s “Mirrors” follows former NYPD officer Ben Carson (Kiefer Sutherland) turned abandoned department store night guard as he attempts to unravel the demonic background of his new workplace and protect his loved ones. While “Mirrors” presents an eerie narrative idea, it’s been panned for tripping on itself with an over-complicated plot, botchy dialogue and unnecessarily graphic imagery — making an overall unsatisfactory spook.

The Halloween franchise has had a long, storied history and a whole bunch of sequels over the years. Those sequels are of varying quality, but it's largely agreed that Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers is right near the bottom of the barrel. However, things could have been a whole lot different, as it was recently revealed that none other than Quentin Tarantino nearly wrote the movie before he became the filmmaker we all know today.

As revealed in the recently released book Taking Shape, Miramax offered Quentin Tarantino the chance to write Halloween 6 in 1994. Ultimately, the Pulp Fiction director didn't end up taking the job, but it got far enough where he kicked around some ideas. In a recent interview, Tarantino opened up about it a bit. Here's some of what he had to say when asked about being offered the job.

"Yeah, yeah, well, way before I'd ever done anything.

Exclusive: Paul Alan Smith is revamping his ESArtists (Equitable Stewardship for Artists). A unique hybrid, operating as an agency and management company since its 2013 launch, ESArtists has been rebranded as Equitable Mgmt and will function solely as a management firm.

The company has expanded its leadership team as Smith and his partner Lee Rosenbaum are being joined by four newly minted partners: Tyler Reynolds, Neda Niroumand, Varun Monga and Sonia Gambaro. Each will have a stake/ownership in the company, and the six partners will have equal say in all decision making.

Smith, a veteran TV lit rep, decided to change the makeup of his company after taking a close look at the top ranks of Hollywood agencies and management companies and being struck by the lack of diversity, especially when it comes to women in leadership positions.

“My first step was to make my immediate colleagues my equals,” Smith said.

Chicago – Some extraordinary local and outside talent coordinated to produce the film “An Acceptable Loss” in 2018, including featured stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Tika Sumpter (“Southside with You”). Producer Colleen Griffen and writer/director Joe Chappelle, who hail from Chicagoland, helped to create this passionate thriller, with echoes of paranoid government oversight films like “All the President’s Men” and the recent “Vice.” The Midwest Independent Film Festival has made “An Acceptable Loss” the kickoff film for their 2019 season. Click here for tickets and details.

Libby (Tika Sumpter) is a superstar in overseas intelligence, having been the chief advisor to U.S. Vice President Burke (Jamie Lee Curtis) during a confrontation that had the ramifications of September 11th. Oddly, she has opted to forego a plum assignment when the VP is elected President, and accepts an academia role at a Midwestern University. Her role in the previous administration was divisive,...

January continues its slow roll on the Specialty side this weekend with very few anticipated limited releases. IFC Films has the headliner of the weekend with political thriller An Acceptable Loss starring Tika Sumpter and Jamie Lee Curtis. Chicago Fire director Joe Chappelle wrote and directed the title after finding inspiration from two documentaries by Errol Morris. Brooklyn-based Distrib Films believes it found an under-the-radar gem in last year’s Berlin Film Festival with The Heiresses, which took two Silver Bears at the event in the German capital.

Other openers this weekend include Screen Media’s 2016 Tribeca Nora Ephron prize-winner Adult Life Skills, as well as Freestyle Digital Media’s I Hate The Kids and Rlj Entertainment’s The Standoff at Sparrow Creek.

An Acceptable Loss

Director-writer: Joe Chappelle

Cast: Tika Sumpter, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Tavassoli, Jeff Hephner

Distributor: IFC Films

Veteran TV director Joe Chappelle had the idea...

Political thrillers are popular for a reason. Whether in book or cinematic form, they play on all of our worst fears about government. Especially with the modern spying situation and war on terror, there’s plenty to be inspired by. Sadly, the new release An Acceptable Loss only scratches the surface of what could have been explored. A poorly paced drama, it crawls along at a snail’s pace before picking up when it’s far too late. This could have been a nifty little thriller. Instead, it mostly just tries your patience. I’d call it an interesting failure, but it barely even reaches that point. The film is a political drama/thriller, as mentioned above. We meet Elizabeth “Libby” Lamm (Tika Sumpter) as she’s taking a teaching job at a top university in Chicago. A former top U.S. national security adviser to Vice President Rachel Burke...

An Acceptable Loss Trailer Joe Chappelle‘s An Acceptable Loss (2019) movie trailer stars Tika Sumpter, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Tavassoli, Jeff Hephner, and Deanna Dunagan. An Acceptable Loss‘ plot synopsis: “She was the ultimate patriot. Now, what she knows could bring down the government. Libby Lamm (Tika Sumpter) is a former top national security advisor who, while [...]

Continue reading: An Acceptable Loss (2019) Movie Trailer: Tika Sumpter & Jamie Lee Curtis Authorize a Strike Against Terrorists...