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Apple renews Shyamalan's 'Servant' before it premieres
Add another Apple TV+ show to the list of those already slated to get second seasons. M. Night Shyamalan and the Tonight Show's Jimmy Fallon have confirmed that Apple has renewed Servant for a second season ahead of its November 28th premiere. That isn't completely surprising when the slow-burn story practically needs the extra room, but it's nonetheless a vote of confidence in the psychological thriller.
What’s coming to Netflix in October: The 'Breaking Bad' movie
As you'd expect, Netflix is planning plenty of seasonal thrillers for October. The theme this year is that the kids are not okay. You'll meet Eli, a child with a mysterious illness who has to be secluded from the world and is battling "nightmares." Raising Dion is sci-fi look at the horrors of parenting. In Fractured, a man is searching for his daughter who vanished from an ER. In Daybreak, a teenage outcast is navigating a post-apocalyptic world full of zombies. Rattlesnake stars a single mother who will do anything to save her daughter, and In The Tall Grass -- based on a novella by Stephen King and his son Joe Hill -- stars a pregnant woman who gets lost in a field of tall grass when she tries to answer a boy's cry for help.
Investigative thriller game 'Telling Lies' drops August 23rd
Telling Lies, the spritual successor of indie darling Her Story, will officially be available for PC, Mac and iOS devices on August 23. Gamers excited to get their hands on the new title from developer Sam Barlow can pre-order the investigative thriller from the App Store of their platform of choice.
Amazon plans series based on the Jack Reacher novels
Amazon is reportedly working on a series based on Jack Reacher, the character from Lee Child's bestselling crime-thriller novels. According to Deadline, Amazon Studios landed the rights to develop a script-to-series drama. Scorpion creator Nick Santora will write, executive produce and serve as the series' showrunner.
'12 Minutes' is a murderous 'Groundhog Day'
Everyone has regrets; words and actions that we wish we could take back or try again. But only a precious few are gifted the opportunity for mulligans of such magnitude. In Annapurna Interactive's latest psychological thriller, 12 Minutes, you're granted (perhaps cursed) with exactly that.
Netflix series 'What/If' is a social thriller anthology
Netflix recently ordered 10 episodes of a new social thriller anthology entitled What/If with Renee Zellweger in a lead role. Now, the streaming service has announced the names of the actors joining the cast and starring opposite Zellweger, Glee alum Blake Jenner and Castle Rock's Jane Levy. According to Deadline, Dave Annable of the ABC show Brothers & Sisters will play a character called Dr. Ian Harris, while Westworld's Louis Herthum will play Zellweger's driver and right-hand man.
'Michael Jackson's Thriller 3D' is coming to IMAX theaters
On what would have been Michael Jackson's 60th birthday, IMAX announced that it's remastering Michael Jackson's Thriller 3D for a limited run in its theaters. IMAX will show the iconic 1983 music video in 3D for one week starting September 21st, before screenings of the new movie The House with a Clock in Its Walls.
Amazon secures movie rights for Alafair Burke’s thriller ‘The Wife’
Amazon Studios is ramping up its efforts in the streaming space lately in a push to focus on bigger movies and television shows. The company hired NBC's Jennifer Salke as its new head executive to take the place of the disgraced Roy Price, and has picked up some high-profile content, like Ian M. Banks' well-regarded Culture novels for a television series. Now Amazon won the rights to Alafair Burke's novel The Wife, which is heavily influenced by the current #MeToo zeitgeist.
Hack into a world of cyberpunk horror next month in 'Observer'
If you think things are unendurably awful in the world today, maybe don't play Observer when it hits PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, Mac and Linux on August 15th. Observer follows one of the darkest paths at humanity's feet, imagining a 2084 where corporations are the highest authority and much of society lives in Blade Runner-esque squalor. In Poland, Detective Dan Lasarski is tasked with hacking into the minds of murderers and degenerates, witnessing their crimes in twisted detail, first-hand.
Jukebox Heroes: Halloween tunes
Darkness falls across the land. The midnight hour is close at hand. Creatures crawl in search of blood to terrorize your neighbourhood. And whosoever shall be found without the soul for getting down must stand and face the hounds of hell. ~ Thriller Is it thriller night already? It's just about, actually, and that means that we need to get a little freaky and a lot creepy in today's edition of Jukebox Heroes. Let's put aside our jaunty ballads and epic fanfares for music of the crypt. Let's dance with skeletons and play pin-the-wart-on-the-witch as these tunes fill our ears. My advice? Turn it up. If you keep the monsters rocking out, then they'll be too preoccupied to eat you.
Jaws debuts on Blu-ray August 14th remastered and upmixed (video)
Universal Pictures promised it would celebrate its centennial by bringing classics out of the vaults and onto Blu-ray discs and now one of our most anticipated flicks, Jaws, finally has a release date. Steven Spielberg's 1975 hit will come home in "digitally remastered and fully restored" form with an upmixed 7.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack August 14th. The soundtrack and picture have both been carefully restored in a process undertaken in conjunction with Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment, as they went back to the original 35mm film and repaired it frame by frame. Also packed in will be four hours of bonus features, including an all new documentary The Shark Is Still Working: The Impact & Legacy of Jaws. If you're wondering about the restoration process, there are a couple of samples included after the break, plus a video about it and teaser trailer for the Blu-ray disc -- we're gonna need a bigger boat.
The Perfect Ten: The evolution of /dance
I recall when I was a wee... teenager and C+C Music Factory would blast through our Walkmans to demand that everybody (1) dance and (2) dance now. It was commanding, enthralling and extremely dorky, but the dance could not be denied. Dancing is in the soles of our souls as humans; we simply must boogie to a good beat. I'm not quite sure when or where dancing in MMOs became all the craze, but these days it seems as though every game (except the dour ones with bears, bears, bears) prides itself on a good set of /dance emotes. For some players, it's the perfect way to unwind after a long raid or chew up a bit of time while one waits for SgtCuddlyMonkey to return from his refreshing bio break. For others, it's a legitimate career path with a long and distinguished history of gyrating on top of mailboxes while annoyed postal recipients long for a day when a pelvis will not be gesturing at eye level. So this week, let's loosen up, let our hair down, and samba across the ballroom floor as we count down (up?) 10 incredible MMO dances.
Microsoft celebrates Windows Phone 7 RTM with funeral parade for BlackBerry and iPhone (update: Thriller video!)
The iPhone's dead, long live the Windows Phone. That must be the genius proclamation that incited Microsoft to celebrate Windows Phone 7 reaching RTM status with the incomprehensible procession you see above. An elaborate parade, replete with hearses and black capes, was organized last week to denote the passing of the BlackBerry and iPhone into the land of unwanted gadgets. We'd say this is done in poor taste, but we don't enjoy stating the obvious. We will, however, enjoy the fallout from this poorly judged stunt. See our favorite image after the break and lots more at the source. Update: Apparently the team also engaged in a Thriller dance. Words are failing us, so just hop on past the break and mash play.
Second Alan Wake DLC episode 'The Writer' priced at $10
Stephen Totilo once wrote that game content can exist outside of a game disc, and there's more than a little fun to be had in expansions. They're antithetical to the limitations of physical distribution. In a news story, the reader keeps asking, "What will it cost?" but there can be no explanation ... even though there should be one. The unanswered mystery is what stays with us the longest and it's what we'll remember complaining about in the end. My name is Ludwig Kietzmann. I'm a blogger ... type thing. The second downloadable episode of Alan Wake will be called "The Writer." The description of the content, which recently popped up in the game's "Downloadable Content" menu, reveals that the tortured author will find himself in "strange circumstances" (surely he must be used to those by now) and must face "one increasingly nightmarish situation after another." According to the listing, the episode will cost 800 Microsoft Points ($10). The first episode, "The Signal," will cost the same when it launches on July 27th, though it's a free download for those who purchased a new copy of Remedy's thriller. You'll find an image and full description of the DLC after the break -- don't venture further if you're sensitive to spoilers.
Live-action Alan Wake prequel premieres on Xbox Live April 25
If Alan Wake's TV show-like presentation isn't, well, enough like a TV show for you, here's some good news: next week, the first episode in a six-part live-action Alan Wake series will be available on Xbox Live. Bright Falls, shot on location in Oregon, acts as a prequel to the events in the game -- which hopefully means that at least some weirdness was taking place in the game's location before the arrival of Mr. Wake. Otherwise, we'll be watching six episodes about a really pleasant town. Allaying the concern we just expressed, Microsoft promises that the series "evokes the same ghostly chills as 'Twin Peaks' did when it premiered 20 years ago this month." The first two episodes will be available for Xbox Live Gold members on April 25, for everyone else on Xbox Live on April 26, and on brightfalls.com on April 27, with one new episode releasing each week until May 17's two-part finale. That date happens to be one day before the Xbox 360 game's release date, at which point you'll get to see the rest of the story in the game -- and the short story included with the collector's edition.
Interview: Matias Myllyrinne on breathing life into Alan Wake
Founded in 1995, Remedy Entertainment is set to celebrate its 15th anniversary this year, along with the launch of its fourth game, Alan Wake. In contrast with many of the industry's studios, which are comfortable with putting out a new game every two years (if not more frequently), this Finnish game developer can't be rushed to completion. "Remedy is not a game factory," its website tells those looking for employment. The company's managing director, Matias Myllyrinne, wouldn't have it any other way. "You know, this is a labor of love, at least for us," he told Joystiq during an interview at the Game Developers Conference, held last month in San Francisco. After we discussed the game's technology, its cinematic aspirations and its carefully picked cast of actors, it became evident that Alan Wake -- despite lacking "buckets and buckets of blood" -- has a heart, transplanted from the people who made it. "It's almost like you need to see it through, for your own kind of well-being as a creative team," Myllyrinne said. Also, there definitely won't be an Alan Wake musical, so forget about it.
Alan Wake rated Teen, five minutes of footage illuminated
New footage of Remedy's upcoming mystery thriller Alan Wake has found its way online, showcasing some of the demonic thoughts scrawled on paper by the game's title character. Five minutes of footage found at French site GameBlog.fr (posted after the break) showcases some gorgeous environments and some of the action we experienced at Microsoft's X10. Considering half of the Joystiq staff wasn't even born yet when the game was first announced*, we're just happy to help Alan Wake figure out what's happening in the small mid-western town of Bright Falls. But we're not expecting a gruesome adventure, as the ESRB has rated Alan Wake T for Teen. We can't blame Alan: when you're fighting for your life you need as many gamers as you can get on your side. *Okay, not really.
Interview: Remedy's Matias Myllyrinne on Alan Wake
X10 was a special day for Remedy's long-in-development Alan Wake: the release date was announced at last, officially bringing the psychological thriller within a few months of release. On this occasion, Matias Myllyrinne, managing director of Remedy, shared his thoughts with Joystiq about episodic gaming, the inevitabillity of digital distribution, and high-profile competition. Joystiq: It was announced earlier that there would be episodes of Alan Wake. Matias Myllyrinne: It was just announced in CES by Robbie Bach. Did you guys take a look at the experiment with Fable 2? That was surprising. What are your thoughts on that? I think it's interesting to see how those new forms of enjoying entertainment -- how to distribute that, and get through to people in the way they want to enjoy it. I think it'll be really cool to see what happens with the Fable episodic delivery stuff. I think the jury's still out on how people want to consume media such as games. I think it's also an evolving thing, as well. If you think back to music, it's not that long ago that we all bought CDs. That changed. I thought it would happen like in two years, but it actually took more like seven for the music industry to shift and tilt. %Gallery-85310%
Heavy Rain producer talks characters, story, deaths
If your thirst for information regarding Quantic Dream's upcoming psycho-killer drama, Heavy Rain, has yet to be slaked, you may want to check out the above video. It features an interview with the game's executive producer, Guillaume de Fondaumiere. No OMGMegatons are dropped during the duration of said interview, but Fondaumiere does explain the inspiration behind the game's story, and gives a few more details into the two out of the four characters the developer has chosen to reveal. Try not to get too attached to these protagonists -- Fondaumiere also reminds us in this video that any of them could die at the drop of a hat. Or rather, a knife, assuming said knife drops into one of their more vital locations.
(Another) Michael Jackson video game on the way, scheduled for a 'holiday release'
After the King of Pop's passing last week, Joystiq has had an inordinately high volume of Michael Jackson-related stories. Day after day, the video game industry honored his passing -- free "Thriller" downloads on Xbox Live, Battlefield Heroes costumes, and a full on recreation of "Smooth Criminal" using Rag Doll Kung Fu's engine. Today, less than a full week after the singer's death, his production company (MJJ Productions) confirmed to MCVUK that a game starring Jackson and featuring his music has been in production at MJJ for "several months" and is purportedly on schedule to release "this holiday season." Though no definitive "yes" or "no" has been given on the game's release (or any info on the developer, publisher, or the game itself), reports say the game contains recent voice recordings by the singer. The closest we get to actual information on the game's release window is, "I am sure it will still be released ... Michael loved games," by way of an MJJ Productions rep. Here's hoping it's more Moonwalker and less Space Channel 5 -- but then, that's just how we get down.[Via Industry Gamers]
