Angela Quinton

Join Joyce Chng’s space-faring wolves in “Starfang: Rise of the Clan”

It’s always a pleasure to write about a Werewolf News sponsor, and never more than when the sponsorship concerns a new publication by someone whose work I already enjoy. In this case, I’d like to thank Fox Spirit Books for sponsoring Werewolf News with Joyce Chng‘s marvellous sci-fi werewolf space opera novel Starfang: Rise of the Clan.

Is a clan captain going to sacrifice everything for her clan? Tasked to kill Yeung Leung by her parents, powerful rival clan leader of the Amber Eyes, Captain Francesca Min Yue sets out across the galaxy to hunt her prey, only to be thrown into a web of political intrigue spreading across the stars. Is Yeung Leung collaborating with the reptilian shishini and playing a bigger game with the galaxy as a price? Is Francesca’s clan at stake? Welcome to Starfang: Rise of the Clan, where merchants and starship captains are also wolves.

“Wolves should not be in space, but here we were, a clan of wolves and merchants. Instead of the preserved forests of New Earth and Noah’s Ark, we were in ships of steel and armor, reading data scans and commanding officers on the bridge. Wolves within the uniform of merchants and mercenaries, human seeming, claws and teeth sheathed.”

– Captain Francesca Ming Yue, of the warship Starfang.

Starfang: Rise of the Clan is available for purchase in a variety of formats through the following channels:

Once you’ve read Rise of the Clan, I recommend you check out Homecoming, an excerpt from the second book in the Starfang series (so yes, it contains spoilers for Rise of the Clan). You can read it on her web site or as a stand-alone story in the “space” issue of zine I edit, WEREWOLVES VERSUS. It was my introduction to Joyce’s wonderful prose and the elegant, sombre world of the Starfang series.

Angela Quinton May. 15th 2017

Pre-order Shout! Factory’s deluxe “Teen Wolf” & “Teen Wolf Too” editions

Continuing its mission to release every 1980’s film – no matter how cult or cheesy – as a super-deluxe Blu-ray, Shout! Factory is now taking pre-orders for collector’s editions of Teen Wolf and Teen Wolf Too. They’ll be released August 8th in the United States and Canada and can be ordered directly from Shout! Factory or through Amazon (TW, TWT).

No on-disc extras have been announced yet, but Shout! Factory is known for developing extravagant bonus content for their re-releases, so I have high hopes. They’re setting the bar high with these two new lovingly-painted covers. I’m not sure who the artist is – I see the initials PS – but they crushed it, especially that Michael J. Fox version.

Edit: commenter Sykes let me know that the artist is Paul Shipper.

Angela Quinton May. 12th 2017

May is the month of werewolf cakes! Check out this prize-winning “American Werewolf in London” creation

Werewolf News reader Jacob Bellingham shared a photo he took (and a link to a Dread Central article about) this prize-winning An American Werewolf In London-themed cake. Created by Karen Mitchell of Sugarlicious Cakes by Karen, it won a silver medal in the Decorative Exhibit category of the 2017 Cake International competition in London in April.

The level of detail on this thing is incredible, from the bloodwork to the details on the box. Check out the Sugarlicious photo gallery for more, including some close-ups.

Jacob’s family runs Little Brown Fairy Cake, who took home a Bronze in the same competition with the excellent Penguin cake pictured below. Despite looking like one of the least-tasty DC villains, it’s all edible, even the monocle. I told Jacob this in confidence but I think I’m a big enough person to admit it to the world, regardless of what it might do to my werewolf fan credibility: the David Kessler cake is impressive, but I kind of prefer the Penguin cake. What can I say? I like the prospect of eating Danny DeVito’s head, and of course, I didn’t have to travel to London to see (or eat) the best werewolf cake ever – it was right here in my kitchen in 2012.

Angela Quinton May. 11th 2017

“Reverend Lowe” – a “Cycle of the Werewolf” print by Steve Mardo

More werewolf art for your walls! Gallery 1988 hosting a Stephen King art tribute, featuring dozens of exhibits inspired by the horror author’s works. Here’s the one werewolf-related piece I spotted: “Reverend Lowe” by Steve Mardo. The framed original has sold, but you can still get one of the 20 signed prints for yourself.

digital print
11 x 14 inches
signed and numbered, limited edition of 20

inspired by Cycle of the Werewolf

If you’re in Los Angeles you can see the exhibit in person through May 27th at GALLERY1988, 7308 Melrose Ave.

Angela Quinton May. 8th 2017

Get Matt Ryan’s Mondo “American Werewolf in London” poster today if you’re in Texas, or online later if you’re not

Mondo’s got this thing where they commission great artists to make incredible posters, then sell 95% of the stock at an event in Texas and let those of us elsewhere (say, Vancouver) fight for the remaining 5% online.

Well, they did it again, commissioning Canadian artist Matt Ryan to create the lycanthropic entry in “a line-up of awesome new horror posters”. Writes Matt:

There hasn’t been many “alternative” posters created for An American Werewolf in London. I think that was what initially drew me in wanting to create something for it for the Mondo fam. I’m usually drawn towards posters that dont have too many pre-existing pieces of print work under their belt. It means the subject matter hasnt been played out and/or over saturated.

I love the look of the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain and wanted to subtly illustrate the famous Rick Baker Werewolf into the fountain itself, so at first glance perhaps you dont even see it. Just some ornate aspect to the fountain. Originally my idea was to keep the wolf even more hideen and smaller in scale, then I hit the “fuck it” button. I also wanted the poster to sort of trick the eye into almost thinking its an 1800’s period piece in its look and rendering of the fountain but then have the glow of tacky retro neon signage…dating it firmly in the 80’s.

Pictured below is the “regular” edition. Visit Matt’s site to see the Glow In the Dark variant, featuring “a more reto, sun-bleached-black-brown color palette”.

Your best shot at getting one of these 24″ x 36″ beauties is to attend Texas Frightmare Weekend, starting pretty much right this instant and running through Sunday the 7th – Mondo will be selling these and other horror posters at booths 160-162. If you’re not in the Dallas–Fort Worth area this weekend, keep an eye on the Mondo web site poster collection, which is where any extras will pop up.

Thanks to Craig J. Clark for the link.

Edit: I just saw Matt did this frankly gorgeous Silver Bullet screen print (with metallic inks!) as a private commission. This exists somewhere in the world and it’s impossible to obtain without some combination of graft and teleportation. Fuck.

Angela Quinton May. 5th 2017

5-page preview, 4 covers & publication details for “The Howling: Revenge of the Werewolf Queen”

Space Goat Productions has shared publication details, cover art and five preview pages from the first issue of their upcoming comic series “The Howling: Revenge of the Werewolf Queen”.

The Howling: Revenge of the Werewolf Queen #1 picks up where the cult-classic 1981 film left off: Three weeks have passed since Chris Halloran revealed on national TV that werewolves walk among us. No one believed him. Now Marsha Quist has returned for revenge–and now there is no colony to hold back her blood lust. For fans of Evil Dead 2, The Walking Dead, and Silver Bullet.

When news broke late last year that Space Goat had secured the rights to produce a canonical comic series tied to the The Howling film franchise, I got good vibes about the project on the grounds that it had a great title, a talented writer, a killer cover, and a tacit acknowledgement that the story would be derived from one of the good Howling films.

Now that we’re getting close to the July publication date, preview pages and review copies are making the rounds, and I’m relieved that my good vibes were accurate. This looks hot as hell. Check out these five pages from this first issue, then keep scrolling for publication details and a look at the alternate covers.

THE HOWLING: REVENGE OF THE WEREWOLF QUEEN #1 (of 4)

SKU: HWLG0101
UPC: 711099797381 00111 (Covers A & B)
UPC: 711099797381 00121 (Cover C)
UPC: 711099797381 00131 (Cover D)
Price: $3.99
Rating: Teen+
Writer: Micky Neilson
Art: Jason Johnson (A), Milan Parvanov (C)
Cover: Kevin West (A), Yvel Guichet (A, C), Carlos Eduardo (A), Chris Summers (B), Anton Kokarev (B), Bill Sienkeiwicz (D)
Genre: Action & Adventure, Horror
Publication Date: July 2017
Format: Comic Book, FC
Page Count: 32 pages

Angela Quinton May. 4th 2017

Crowdsourced werewolf movie “Bonehill Road” seems very successful and a little weird

The crowdfunding campaign for Bonehill Road, a “fun, scary old school style monster flick” from Todd Sheets, has a week to go and it’s 429% funded.

Bonehill Road is my newest film. It is an homage to classic monster films like The Howling and An American Werewolf In London. In some ways, it is a throwback to the films we grew up with… the real horror movies that we all love so much, and in another way it is a modern horror flick that uses old school techniques, including Practical Monster Effects. NO CGI at all here. Our goal is to make an exciting, scary monster movie with some really cool werewolves. Every dime will be put into the monsters. This whole campaign is ALL about the werewolves. We have our base Budget and distribution is already in place, we just need extra funds for our creature effects. If we are lucky enough to go OVER the budget listed here, we will use every dime for more effects and production costs. No salaries are ever taken by me, the director. EVERY dime will be put on screen, so the more money we have, the better. This budget listed was our BARE MINIMUM for extra creature stuff. But if we go OVER what was listed, that is simply amazing and it will mean MORE Monsters, MORE special effects, MORE stunts… a bigger and better movie!!!!!

This project has generated a lot of interest from Werewolf News readers and grindhouse horror fans in general. I can definitely see the appeal of practical creature effects, and there’s no doubt that Sheets has made his bones in the world of low-budget monster movies, but I don’t know if this project is for me.

They’re leaning heavily into the practical effects, which the campaign updates say are being handled by GDS-Fx. The GDS-Fx Facebook page has lots of photos showing the two masks that have been created so far, and they look appropriately grotesque. Curiously, the campaign also shows (uncredited) photos of pre-made werewolf suits, including a $1,700 Midnight Studios FX werewolf suit with the caption “this is one of the Werewolf suits we will be getting with YOUR help!!!” They obviously want as many werewolves as possible in the film, which, hell yeah, but it seems strange to have them all look so different.

Then there’s the fact that they’re leading off with unlicensed Narnia concept art, there’s no plot summary or story cues mentioned anywhere, and they’re making a character’s non-humanity (“a very cool TRANSFORMATION scene of a WOMAN into a Werewolf!!!”) a stretch goal. The whole concept seems a little… unfinished.

Nevertheless, I’m all for more werewolf movies, and I wish Sheets and his crew all the best.

Angela Quinton May. 3rd 2017

LG G6 commercial shows a smartphone that werewolves can never, ever drop

“Watch how the various features of the LG G6 can enrich your life”, the commercial‘s description encourages us. We are then shown some use cases for the phone. Most are practical, pedestrian – it’s waterproof, you can take it running or skydiving, you can play games on it – but then we see a curious and compelling feature: you can turn into a werewolf while holding it, and you absolutely will not drop it.

Sprout as much fur as you want, change orientation while it happens, switch your grip style from “sturdy” to “dainty” – if you are a lycanthrope, you simply will not be able to let this phone slip from your grasp.

Thank you for considering the werewolf segment of your customer base, LG, and thank you to Juan C. Moreno for the link.

Angela Quinton Apr. 7th 2017

Listen to this great performance of werewolf screenplay “The Hounds of House Rearden” on Black List Table Reads

Last week friend of the site / New Orleans legend @colonelnemo sent me a link to “The Hounds of House Rearden”, the latest episode of the Black List Table Reads podcast on Earwolf. It’s a live-action performance of a werewolf movie script, and an excellent way to pass an amount of time equal to, say, what it would take to assemble two IKEA Kallax shelf units.

Black List Table Reads “takes the best and most exciting screenplays Hollywood hasn’t yet made, and turns them into movies, for your ears”. The scripts are selected by host, narrator (and Black List founder) Franklin Leonard. Each monthly table read is recorded as a group performance by “a rotating cast of talented actors” and then supplemented with audio cues, sounds effects and music. The result is a feature-length audio experience they call an “earmovie”.

“The Hounds of House Rearden” was my first earmovie, and I was impressed. The cast (listed below & pictured even further below) did an excellent job, particularly Cooper Thornton and Greg Itzin. The sound effects and foley work were top notch, rendering the werewolf transformations (spoiler: there are many) and gruesome dismemberments (ditto) effectively. Check this killer poster designed by Erika Deoudes that went up with the podcast post. Details like that have nothing to do with the audio experience but demonstrate the level of care and attention to detail that went into the episode.

The screenplay itself was not bad, as potential werewolf movies go. It started off strong, with a nice antagonistic father-son dynamic and quick pacing, but lost momentum by introducing a few too many dudes with trope-y sub-plots – one of which had me wondering when Mushu was going to appear. There’s a ton of good werewolf action, though, and the identity of the titular Hounds caught me by surprise. I couldn’t find anything else by its screenwriter, Sean Geraghty, but he wrote a better werewolf action-horror movie than some others I could name that made it all the way to the screen.

Subscribe to Black List Table Reads on iTunes or Overcast, or find other links to this specific episode here.

“The Hounds of Rearden” written by Sean Geraghty. It stars Cooper Thornton (Peter), James Callis (Sir Julius/Cortez), Greg Itzin (Sen. Warren/Hunter), Charles Shaughnessy (Cromwell/Clark), Sachin Bhatt (Raj/Ranger #1), Gregg Daniel (Leopold), Andrew Roa (Johnny Napoleon), Ben Lawson (Hastings/Collins), Laura Kai Chen (Khan), and Franklin Leonard (Narrator).

Angela Quinton Apr. 3rd 2017

We might catch a glimpse of Werewolf Pennywise in the “IT” teaser trailer

The first teaser trailer for director Andrés Muschietti’s film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel IT is out, and in addition to exceeding all of my expectations, it shows a tiny bit of possible Canonical Werewolf Content.

The story’s eponymous, eternal villain has many forms, all of which are derived from the fears of children. Its most famous appearance is that of Pennywise the clown (whose look in this new film I am very into), but in two of the book’s scenes, It assumes the form of a werewolf. The 1990 miniseries condensed those appearances into a single new scene, but this new film appears to be a more faithful adaptation.

The teaser includes a short scene at 1:55 set in what looks like an abandoned house (which is where one of the book’s werewolf scenes takes place). In it, members of the Losers’ Club cower from Pennywise, whose flexing hand shreds the tips of its glove to reveal dark, clawed, very werewolf-like fingers. This might not be the scene I’m thinking of – in the book only one of the Losers’ Club is present – but assuming it is, I am very much looking forward to seeing Werewolf Pennywise.

This adaptation of IT will span two films. The first is in theatres September 8th. You can watch the teaser below.

Angela Quinton Mar. 29th 2017