[Intro] Nice US series. - Part 2

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Jamie Lee Curtis, Bruce Campbell and More Dissect Scary Movies' Impact in 'Blumhouse's Compendium of Horror' Trailer

lumhouse Productions is killing it lately, and Jason Blum, the company's CEO, has absolutely become the Walt Disney of horror. On October 2, Blumhouse Television and Epix is bringing fans a five-part docuseries, Blumhouse's Compendium of Horror, that features a slate of genre titans discussing the impact that horror movies have had on society, and vice versa, since its earliest days

 

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Dune HBO Max Prequel Series Casts 5 More Important Roles

Dune: The Sisterhood follows the Harkonnen Sisters 10,000 years before the events of Denis Villeneuve's 2021 film. Played by Emily Watson and Shirley Henderson, the Sisters, Valya and Tula Harkonnen, are tasked with stopping threatening forces in the Known Universe. Their story acts as a prominent look at the Dune series' ancient and influential Bene Gesserit sect.

In the Dune universe, the Bene Gesserit are a group of women with unique abilities that influence the events of the universe from the shadows, acting in roles from scientists to royalty. Dune establishes that Jessica Atreides, mother of protagonist Paul Atreides, is a Bene Gesserit that sought to train her son as the Kwisatz Haderach, a prophesied chosen one with prescient abilities and the only male Bene Gesserit. Dune: The Sisterhood will be using an ipressve cast to document the origins of the shadowy organization, including Game of Thrones star Indria Varma, who will be portraying the calculating Empress Natalya.

What To Expect From Dune: The Sisterhood​

With Dune: Part Two still filming, aiming for a November 3, 2023 release date, it's likely that Dune: The Sisterhood won't see the small screen until Frank Herbert's original novel has been fully adapted. While this does open the door for possible references to the Dune films, the story's place 10,000 years prior to Paul's story on Arrakis means there's a chance viewers will get a far-removed, unique experience out of the show. Given the expanding cast, it's likely that audiences will catch more glimpses of the Dune universe from perspectives that will go unseen in the films.

Dune: The Sisterhood could also utilize plot elements from Sisterhood of Dune, which also features Valya Harkonnen as a character. Given Sisterhood of Dune's status as the first book in the Schools of Dune trilogy, the show may pull ideas not only from its first book, but from Mentats of Dune and Navigators of Dune as well. However, the Schools of Dune trilogy appears to have different characters at its center than Dune: The Sisterhood, making the possibility of a one-to-one adaptation difficult to surmise for now. Despite the mystery currently surrounding its plot, the addition of five more important cast members to Dune: The Sisterhood promises the show will be a sprawling sci-fi epic that seeks to flesh out Dune's universe and history.


 
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They Were Ten

The first contemporary adaptation of Agatha Christie’s masterpiece, the best-selling crime novel of all time

Ten people, five women, five men, are invited to a luxury hotel on a deserted tropical island. They soon realize they are completely isolated, cut
off from the rest of the word and all means of communication, which rapidly becomes their worst nightmare.

Why were they lured into this morbid trap? The answer lies hidden in their past, shameful events that they each tried carefully to bury. Today, under
the hot island sun, they have begun to pay. In the end, there will be none left. One by one, they will be killed off… posing the ultimate question:
who’s the murderer?




 
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Alien's TV Series Already Missed The Point Of The Franchise

Set 70 years in the near future, the Alien series will focus on the burgeoning Weyland-Yutani Corporation that forms the backbone of later Alien narratives. This unscrupulous, profiteering mega-corporation will be shown to dabble in deep space transport, planetary colonization, and terraforming. The Alien TV show will emphasize the company's corporate training programs, dispatches in space, and ulterior motives. This of course includes Weyland-Yutani's experimentation with Xenomorphs, which will undoubtedly lead to carnage.

What Noah Hawley Has Said About FX's Alien

These narrative plans have been backed up by the Alien series' creator Noah Hawley, who confirmed (via Esquire) that the vast majority of the show will take place on a version of Earth. Hawley's Alien show, therefore, will focus on the inequalities and social divides ingrained in the futuristic Earth's culture, with Hawley stating: "you will see what happens when the inequality we’re struggling with now isn’t resolved. If we as a society can’t figure out how to prop each other up and spread the wealth, then what’s going to happen to us?" According to Hawley, this social commentary is derived from the original 1979 Alien's characters and their wider world, with the showrunner describing Alien as "this blue-collar space-trucker world in which Yaphet Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton are basically Waiting for Godot. They’re like Samuel Beckett characters, ordered to go to a place by a faceless nameless corporation."

Alongside his clear focus on the social commentary of both contemporary and futuristic cultures, Hawley’s Alien series is stated to mark a huge departure from what franchise fans have become accustomed to. In a separate Vanity Fair interview, Hawley expands on this approach, saying: “The Alien stories are always trapped. Trapped in a prison, trapped in a spaceship. I thought it would be interesting to open it up a little bit so that the stakes of ‘What happens if you can’t contain it?’ are more immediate.” This new focus certainly marks a stark deviation from Ridley Scott's claustrophobic formula, with Hawley's Alien sounding like it will focus on big picture narratives instead of the insular, terrifying settings of Alien, Aliens, and Alien: Resurrection.

Why The Alien TV Series Has Already Missed The Point Of The Franchise

While original Alien director Ridley Scott's comments about the Alien series may be prematurely harsh, Noah Hawley's grand plans suggest that FX's show has already missed the point of the franchise, shedding what made Alien 1979 so compelling in favor of a more grandiose storyline. Undoubtedly, Ridley Scott's Alien remains the best franchise entry due to its insular setting and multi-faceted, intimate character portrayals. These human touches and close-quarters introspection conspire to make Alien a stunning exploration of claustrophobia and psychological trauma in a pressure cooker setting - practically impossible to replicate on Earth.

As such, Hawley's Alien is already thinking too big in both its scope and attempts to create new Alien lore via Weyland-Yutani, making it feel like generic sci-fi TV fare from the get-go. While Hawley's ambition must be applauded, as must his willingness to shed the temptation of using original Alien characters, other aspects of his series plan fundamentally work against the nature of the franchise itself. Like Ridley Scott's future vision for the Alien franchiseexploring artificial intelligence — Hawley's Alien series plans just don't seem to grasp why the first movie is a classic. In particular, Hawley's comments on the Alien stories being "trapped" are the most concerning, with the inability to escape ratcheting up the Alien movies' tension and stakes in a way an open-world setting such as Earth simply cannot. Despite Hawley's assertion that the stakes will be higher in FX's Alien, the planet's fate feels like a hollow storyline that's already been played out in countless science-fiction entries before the new Alien TV series.

Even the Alien prequels in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant understood the franchise's reliance on insular settings, stranding their respective crews on harsh worlds with little to no chance of escape. Despite their flaws, both prequel movies successfully convey the dread aspect of the Alien franchise as hope slowly ebbs away from the human characters battling the Xenomorphs. The video game Alien: Isolation is another example of this formula achieving success, as the game is essentially an interactive experience featuring the original movie's core elements. Indeed, Alien's TV series has already missed the mark tonally for its own franchise, making Hawley's show feel more like a faceless sci-fi story with the Alien name tacked onto it rather than a direct prequel to Ridley Scott's seminal 1979 movie.

Why Is The Alien Franchise So Difficult To Adapt?​

Despite a reputation as a tough IP to work with, the Alien franchise should be one of the easiest to adapt. The mistake being made by the Alien TV series, like every new installment since Aliens, is trying to put a new spin on an idea that really doesn't need one. The 1719 setting of 2022 movie Prey, even while breaking the rules of Alien's sister franchise Predator, proved it's possible to make huge alterations to an Alien or Predator movie while remaining true to what made the originals such classics. All the Alien franchise has to do is make a similar movie or show to Alien/Aliens, but with the horror and isolation magnified by contemporary special effects and a few decades of advances in cinematography.

While the deeper and broader sci-fi themes explored in recent installments are ambitious, they're not needed. There are many other franchises that tackle these socio-political themes far better than any Alien movie could. Any Alien should be primarily about Xenomorphs - the titular alien of Aliens. They're the unique selling point. In fact, the best Alien project since Alien and Aliens has been the first-person shooter game Alien: Isolation for this exact reason. If the Alien franchise intends to continue any future adaptation needs to embrace its space horror roots.


unrelated articles

Alien timeline: Prometheus to Alien Resurrection
How do I watch the Alien movies in order?
  • Prometheus
  • Alien: Covenant
  • Alien
  • Aliens
  • Alien 3
  • Alien: Resurrection
 
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mfisbwg

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The Witcher Season 3 Release Date Predictions, Cast Updates, Plot Theories, Trailer, and Everything You Need to Know

The Witcher Early Renewal for Season 4 and 5​

On September, Redanian Intelligence reported that streaming giant Netflix was allegedly eyeing renewing The Witcher early for season 4 and season 5. The Intelligence reported that season 4 was supposed to be written while season 3 was filming, with the same things happening for season 5. This was supposed to make the wait time between seasons shorter

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