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In addition to being a ridiculously prolific fantasy author, one of Brandon Sanderson's great charms is that he loves to chat at length about the profession of being a writer. Last week, an interview dropped between The Stormlight Archive author and Tim Ferriss, the entrepreneur and writer behind The 4-Hour Workweek. This three-hour interview is chock full of great anecdotes and bits of wisdom; for example, Sanderson revealed that A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin was almost chosen to finish writing The Wheel of Time book series instead of him after its creator, Robert Jordan, passed away in 2007.

And here's another: Sanderson shared a story about a time when Joe Abercrombie, the author behind the grimdark fantasy series The First Law, made Sanderson deface one of Abercrombie's own books at an airport, and nearly caused him to miss his flight to a convention. It's a...

Actor and comedian Brian Murphy, best known for his iconic roles in groundbreaking sitcoms “Man About the House” and “George and Mildred,” passed away Sunday at his home in Kent, England. He was 92.

Murphy’s agent, Thomas Bowington, confirmed his death, noting that the actor died peacefully with his wife, actress Linda Regan, by his side. “Brian was a truly joyful and profoundly good-hearted man,” Bowington said.

A veteran of British entertainment, Murphy’s career spanned over seven decades. He began in the 1950s with Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop, where he helped transform British theater and make it more accessible to wider audiences. His early stage work included Shakespearean productions and a memorable role in “Oh, What a Lovely War!”

Television brought Murphy his greatest recognition. After appearing in classic British series like “The Avengers” and “Z-Cars,” he found breakthrough success in 1973 with “Man About the House.” The sitcom,...

Brian Murphy, star of 1970s UK sitcoms Man About the House and George and Mildred, has died aged 92.

His wife, Hi-De-Hi! actress and crime writer Linda Regan, posted a message on social media with a picture of the two that read, “My love for you will never die. Rip sweetheart”.

He passed away at his home in Kent in England on Sunday morning with Regan by his side, according to his agent, Thomas Bowington of Bowington Management.

“It is with the greatest of sadness that we have to announce the death of our client actor Brian Murphy,” Bowington said today. “It is almost impossible to describe the depth of his talent and humanity. A truly joyful and profoundly good hearted man.”

Through Bowington, Regan added: “I was lucky to have in my lifetime found my soulmate — Brian who I will love forever.”

An actor and comedian by trade, Murphy was...

In one of the most prominent #MeToo cases in the French film industry, director Christophe Ruggia has been found guilty of the sexual assault of Portrait of a Lady on Fire actress Adèle Haenel. Ruggia was given a two-year custodial sentence to be served under house arrest with an electronic bracelet and an additional two-year suspended sentence.

The prosecution had requested a five-year prison sentence with a three-year suspended sentence. Ruggia’s lawyers called the ruling “unjustified” and said they would appeal.

Haenel first went public with her sexual assault allegation against Ruggia in 2019 in an interview with French investigative website Mediapart. She accused the director of sexually assault and molestation over the course of three years, starting when she was 12 and he was 36, and Ruggia cast her in his 2001 feature The Devils. Haenel played the lead role in the film, a story of a brother and sister who turn to incest,...

A French court has today (February 3) found French filmmaker Christophe Ruggia guilty of sexually assaulting actress Adèle Haenel when she was a minor.

He has been sentenced to four years in prison, including two years under house arrest with an electronic bracelet and two years suspended.

The trial was the first to go to court of themajor #MeToo cases in the French film industry.Ruggia was accused of sexually assaulting Haenel starting when she was just 12 years old in the early 2000s after she was cast in his 2002 film The Devils.

The court also ordered the director to pay Haenel...

A French court has today (February 3) found French filmmaker Christophe Ruggia guilty of sexually assaulting actress Adèle Haenel when she was a minor.

He has been sentenced to four years in prison, including two years under house arrest with an electronic bracelet and two years suspended.

The trial was the first to go to court of themajor #MeToo cases in the French film industry.Ruggia was accused of sexually assaulting Haenel starting when she was just 12 years old in the early 2000s after she was cast in his 2002 film The Devils. The court also ordered the director to pay Haenel...

French filmmaker Christophe Ruggia, who was accused in 2019 by “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” actor Adele Haenel of having sexually abused her when she was a minor, was found guilty of sexual assault by a Paris court. He received a four-year sentence, including two years under house arrest and two years suspended.

In November 2019, Haenel alleged in an interview with investigative magazine Mediapart that she had been abused by Ruggia during and after the filming of the movie “Les Diables” (“The Devils”) in the early 2000s, when she was between 12 and 15 years old. She then filed a police complaint against the director.

Ruggia repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. In December, the Paris prosecutor requested a five-year sentence, including two years under house arrest with electronic monitoring and three years suspended.

Haenel, who is now 35, was France’s first prominent star to accuse a filmmaker of sexual assault in the country’s #MeToo movement.

French director Christophe Ruggia has been sentenced to two years of house arrest after being found guilty of sexually abusing actress Adèle Haenel, according to multiple reports.

He will have an electronic bracelet for those two years, with an additional two years suspended. Ruggia denies any wrongdoing.

The “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” actress first accused the filmmaker of sexual harassment in 2019, years after they worked together on 2002’s “The Devils” when she was just a teenager. In her initial complaint, Haenel said the abuse — including “forced kisses” — occurred from the ages of 12 to 15. The director was 36 when it started.

“Christophe told me that he was in love with me and that the age difference was a curse for him, and that, unfortunately, I was an adult in a child’s body,” Haenel told investigators in France at the time.

“Now that the judiciary has opened an investigation, I...

French director Christophe Ruggia has been given a two-year custodial sentence under house arrest with an electronic bracelet with another two years suspended following a landmark trial in which he was found guilty of sexual assault accusations by actress Adèle Haenel.

The Paris prosecutor’s office had requested five years in prison, with three years suspended, following a turbulent two-day court hearing in early December.

The sentence comes six years after Haenel went public in 2019 with sexual assault accusations against Ruggia in an interview with investigative website Mediapart.

Haenel accused Ruggia of sexually assaulting and molesting her over the course of three years, beginning with the shoot of The Devils in 2001, when she was 12 and he was 36, and continuing into the promotional and festival tour.

Ruggia, who denied the accusations, suggested to the court that Haenel’s accusations were “revenge” because he had not made a second film with her,...

Have you seen the Walt Disney-directed animated short "The Skeleton Dance?" A part of Disney's "Silly Symphony" series, the short revolves around four human skeletons dancing merrily in a graveyard, imitating the allegorical Dance of Death (also known as danse macabre). It isn't particularly spooky, but it is a fun, whimsical piece of animation that is still regarded with a sense of nostalgic fondness. However, this 1930 short was not always viewed through such a benign lens. Indeed, "The Skeleton Dance" was banned in Denmark upon its original release, with its subject matter being deemed too ... macabre. This moral stance to justify censorship might seem a bit silly in hindsight, as animated skeletons using bones as a xylophone hardly make for an unsettling premise. Well, in vaguely related news, the short entered the U.S. public domain on January 1, 2025, so you can now enjoy these fine skeletal gentlemen having a gala time to your heart's content.

A Paris prosecutor has requested a five-year sentence for French film director Christophe Ruggia who is accused of sexually assaulting actress Adèle Haenel when she was a minor.

The sentence, including three years suspended and two under house arrest with an electronic bracelet, was requested after a two-day hearing, that wrapped in Paris’ criminal court late Tuesday (December 10).

The trial has drawn widespread attention for being among the first #MeToo cases in French cinema that has gone to court.

It comes five years after Haenel spoke out against Ruggia, accusing him of grooming and sexual abuse when she was 12 and...

Paris prosecutors have requested a five-year prison sentence for filmmaker Christophe Ruggia over sexual assault charges involving actor Adele Haenel when she was a minor, Le Monde reports. Haenel is the star of the Cannes prize-winning film “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and “Bpm.”

The sentence, requested on Tuesday, includes two years under house arrest with electronic monitoring and three years suspended. Prosecutor Camille Poch said during the hearing that it must “remind us of the forbidden, who was the adult, who was the child, it must set the world straight.”

The case stems from incidents that allegedly occurred when Haenel was between 12 and 14 years old, following her role in Ruggia’s 2001 film “Les Diables” (“The Devils”). The prosecution outlined a pattern of “progressive hold” over Haenel, which included approximately 100 Saturday afternoons spent at Ruggia’s residence until February 2004.

Defense attorney Orly Rezlan pointed to a 2014 letter from Haenel to Ruggia,...

The Paris prosecutor’s office has requested five years in prison, with three years suspended, for French director Christophe Ruggia in relation to accusations by actress Adèle Haenel that he sexually assaulted her when she was a minor.

The sentence request was made on the final day of a dramatic two-day trial in Paris this week, some five years after Haenel went public in 2019 with accusations against Ruggia, accusing him of sexually assaulting her as a teenager after he cast her in his 2002 feature The Devils.

Ruggia is not expected to do jail time but will likely spend the two-year custodial part of the requested sentence under house arrest with an electronic bracelet, if the sentence is upheld. A final sentence will be announced on February 3.

The prosecutor also requested that Ruggia be placed on France’s national sex offender registry, be banned from seeking contact with Haenel and also compensate her.

The trial of French director Christophe Ruggia, who is accused of sexually assaulting Portrait of a Lady on Fire actress Adèle Haenel when she was a minor, kicked off in Paris on Monday.

The two-day hearing comes five years after Haenel went public in 2019 with accusations against Ruggia in an interview with investigative website Mediapart, accusing him of sexually assaulting her as a teenager after he cast her in his 2002 feature The Devils.

She said Ruggia assaulted her over the course of three years, beginning with the shoot of the film in 2001, when she was 12 and he was 36, and continuing into the promotional and festival tour. Ruggia has denied the accusations.

Adèle Haenel supporters

Haenel arrived in court looking somber but determined. Female rights activists gathered outside, with placards bearing the slogan ‘Adele, On Te Croit’ (Adele We Believe you).

On taking to the stand for the first time, Ruggia...

After the opening credits, a stark blue screen appears to the sounds of bell chimes. The film is called Blue, and the image on-screen will not change for the duration of the film. Derek Jarman was a British filmmaker who pushed boundaries not just with his avant-garde films, but also for his outspoken voice as a gay man in the 20th century. Jarman was one of the strongest LGBT+ activists to come out of the 20th century film industry. He was a prolific filmmaker, painter, gardener, and he even did the set design for Ken Russell's controversial cult classic horror film The Devils. Blue is Jarman's final film, and a deeply personal one at that. The experimental film chronicles Jarman's fight with AIDS virus, which he had been diagnosed with in the mid '80s. Sadly, Jarman passed away from an AIDS related illness less than a year after finishing the film,...

Related Images invites readers behind the scenes and into the sketchbooks of working filmmakers to learn more about their creative processes.Elizabeth Sankey’s Witches is now showing exclusively on Mubi.Witches.Title cards are an underappreciated art and a powerful tool for every director. They can punctuate a moment, make it more comic, shocking, or beautiful. They can hold your hand and lead you sweetly down the garden path of the story you’re about to experience, or they can undermine your expectations and throw you for a loop. Even their placement in the runtime can have a huge impact. In the black-metal revenge thriller Mandy (2018) Panos Cosmatos waits 75 minutes before abruptly kicking his title card onto the screen. Conversely Luca Guadagnino places the card for Call Me by Your Name (2017) at the end of the film to enhance Elio’s heartbreaking stare into the fire, intensifying his crushing...

The films of Ken Russell are among the most unique in the canon of cinema. In Altered States, he took audiences on a journey into the deepest recesses of consciousness and brought us images that were hallucinatory and hellish. He brought the rock opera to mainstream audiences with Tommy and, in doing so, gave The Whos concept album about the rejection of the drug culture a commentary on the obsession with celebrity culture and the messianic cult that surrounds it. Russells most controversial film, The Devils, based on the book The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley, decimated the hubris and morality of organized religion.

Crimes of Passion, which turns 40 this year, saw Russell take the format thats commonly associated with erotic thrillers and apply his own brand of style and aspects found in the philosophy of the Marquis de Sade, all the while providing a vehicle for one of Kathleen Turners most provocative performances.

There are some exciting things afoot in the science fiction and fantasy book world, specifically in the anthology space, where a few exciting projects are getting a ton of support from the reader community. On October 1st, long-running genre zine Grimdark Magazine released its 40th issue, which is also its 10th anniversary edition issue. Grimdark Magazine is always a solid read, but this issue is something extra special because the list of authors who contributed stories, essays, or other work to it is mind-blowingly insane.

Don't take my word for it. Grimdark Magazine Issue #40 features works of short fiction from Mark Lawrence, Wendy Nikel, Angela Slatter, Ben Galley, Aaron Dries, Christopher Buehlman, Andrea Stewart, Cat Rambo, Anna Smith Spark, and the first part of a brand newGentleman Bastards short story from Scott Lynch (the second part will follow in the January 2025 issue). On the essay and interview side of things,...

It's an understatement to say that Ken Russell made distinctly twisted, controversial films, infusing new meaning into the term "unpredictable." Sure, this brand of filmmaking is a bit of an acquired taste, but it has merit no less, as his experimental, no-holds-barred approach led to some truly unique cinematic experiences. Apart from his rather mainstream (and brilliant) "Women in Love," Russell made fictionalized retellings of real events, such as his "Gothic," which expands upon the Shelleys visiting Lord Byron in Villa Diodati within a jarring horror framework. More controversial works include "The Devils," and Russell's 1980 sci-fi horror feature "Altered States," itself a psychedelic-adjacent trip into a bizarre, delirious labyrinth about identity and altered states of consciousness.

Two mega-popular actors made their acting debut in "Altered States:" William Hurt, who plays leading man Eddie Jessup, and Drew Barrymore, who plays Eddie's younger daughter, Margaret Jessup. Barrymore was only five when she starred in Russell's film,...

There are plenty of stories of missed out roles or different casting choices that can leave one's head spinning; we were this close to living in a reality where Burt Reynolds played Han Solo. It is always interesting to wonder what could have been, but we don't always focus on why it turned out that way. For some actors, they made a mistake thinking the movie part was not for them. For others, it was just a conflict of schedule that had them missing out from landing that iconic role.

There is also a darker side to this, and some actors end up finding themselves turned down because of their behavior off and on set. This is certainly the case with British actor Oliver Reed, who lost out on roles like James Bond, and turned down a part in Jaws, due to his problems with drinking and for his scandalous behavior.

Joe Abercrombie is best known as the author of The First Law series, and he's put together an outstanding body of work over the previous two decades. Dubbed "Lord Grimdark," Abercrombie has developed a reputation as one of the premiere authors in the grimdark fantasy subgenre, known for morally ambiguous characters, historically rooted world-building, and subversion of classical fantasy norms. The First Law universe is often noted for its similarities to George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire book series, which Abercrombie has cited as a chief influence on his fiction.

Though The First Law has been around for some time, there's no better time than now to dive into the author's work. His original trilogy has been expanded on with the sequel Age of Madness trilogy, multiple standalone, and a plethora of short stories. One of his standalone novels, Best Served Cold, has had a feature...

A few months ago, I wrote an article listing ten movies that – despite being well known – were difficult to find (legally) on any streaming service or even on disc. Those titles ranged from Ron Howard’s Cocoon to movies like Dawn of the Dead (the original). In the comments, many of our readers chimed in with their two cents on films they’ve found difficult to find over the years, so here are a few more challenging-to-find flicks, some of which may surprise you.

Panic Room:

The fact that David Fincher’s Panic Room has never been issued on Blu-ray blows me away. It’s been announced a few times, but a physical release never seems to happen (although you can stream it in HD pretty easily). What gives? You’d think the fact that it has Fincher’s name on it, and stars Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker,...

French filmmaker Christophe Ruggia has been ordered by a French magistrate to stand trial on charges of sexually assaulting actress Adèle Haenel when she was a minor in the early 2000s.

The Paris trial date is set for December 9 and 10, according to French media reports. Ruggia has denied all charges and his lawyers have yet to comment publicly on the trial.

Haenel, now 35, filed a complaint against Ruggia in 2019 accusing him of “constant sexual harassment” when she was between 12 and 15 years old and he was in his 30s, which she says included “forced kisses on the neck” and unwanted touching.

Quick Links Scum Plot And Cast Why Scum Was Banned How Scum Is Still Shocking to This Day Why Scum Is a Classic and Why You Should Watch It

There will always be an interest and allure in banned media, which, for many, raises questions like "Why do they not want me to see this?" This often comes with boundary-pushing cinema that challenges social norms and political powers or goes to such extremes that those in charge of distribution deem it inappropriate to share with the masses.

Are all banned films great? Looking through the video nasties catalog, some of the films only became notorious because they made the infamous list of banned media. Yet, at the same time, others like Salo: The 120 Days of Sodom or Ken Russel's The Devils have garnered such acclaim that they have transcended their initial ban.

There is one notable British film that...

The Nun II (202 - Directed by Michael Chaves Killer Nun (1979) - Directed by Giulio Berruti

Horror movies about nuns play on the common fears and religious rituals many people experience throughout their lives, making them some of the best scary movies out there. More often than not, nuns themselves are not the ones to be feared, but when they become possessed by demons or devils within the fictional narrative, they become something much more sinister. Conversely, some of the greatest nun horror movies depict the dangers of religious fundamentalism and fervor that can turn violent at the drop of a hat.

Nun horror movies are gaining popularity again with the release of Sydney Sweeney's R-rated Immaculate, but the genre has always included plenty of stellar films. Horror movies are most effective when they transform everyday occurrences, objects, and people and ask the audience to imagine what would happen if...

With Now Showing, your Halloweenies gather each month for a review on something new and something old in horror. This month, co-hosts Michael Roffman, Rachel Reeves, and Justin Gerber shoot the shit about all kinds of spooky stuff, specifically The First Omen, Late Night with the Devil, Stopmotion, Paranormal Activity, Life, and The Devils.

Stream the episode below or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS. New to the Halloweenies? Catch up with the gang by revisiting their essential episodes on past franchises such as Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Scream, The Evil Dead, and Chucky. This year? Alien.

You can also become a member of their Patreon, The Rewind, for hilariously irreverent commentaries, one-off deep dives on your favorite rentals, and even topical spinoffs like this past summer’s greatest adventure Fortune & Glory: An Indiana Jones Podcast.

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Some of the most frightening horror movies of all time are the ones steeped in heavy religious undertones. Whether it's ceremonial rites, dogma, or creepy cults, there's something about all the intricate symbols and repressed guilt of religious doctrine that fits perfectly with the concept of terror.

Horror movies are uniquely capable of captivating their audience with a powerful blend of spirituality and scares. From demonic possessions to apocalyptic visions, many films have delved into the darkest corners of religious belief, challenging their audience's perception of both the divine and the diabolical through their spine-tingling impact.

Related 25 Best Horror Movies Created in the Last 5 Years The past five years have produced some impeccable horror movies, including new franchises, revived franchises, and several unconventional projects. The Devils Is One of the Most Controversial Horror Films Ever Made

Rotten Tomatoes

70%

IMDb

7.8/10

Metacritic

49%

Often noted as one of the most controversial films ever made,...

Immaculate, starring and co-produced by Sydney Sweeney, is the most recent addition to the ever-popular horror subgenre dubbed "nunsploitation". As Sweeney and director Michael Mohan recently shared with Letterboxd, Immaculate took inspiration from Black Narcissus, Possession, and nunsploitation films Mother Joan of the Angels and The Devils. Sweeney and Mohan also cite the 1968 horror classic Rosemary's Baby as being especially influential both for Sweeney's character Cecilia and the film as a whole, and it's easy to see why. Immaculate abides by Rosemary's Baby's decision to never actually show the monstrous baby delivered by their respective heroines but also subverts its ending in a shocking yet fitting conclusion for Cecilia's character. While Immaculate makes more direct critiques of the inherently patriarchal structure of the Catholic Church, Rosemary's Baby depicts the dangers of cults and the subtle yet insidious grooming process used to recruit new members. Both, however, show women whose pain...

This article contains spoilers for "Immaculate."

The Sydney Sweeney nunsploitation flick "Immaculate" is having one hell of an opening weekend. Not only does the film now hold the distinction of earning Neon's biggest opening weekend ever domestically, but the borderline Satanic panic coming from evangelical conservatives losing their minds over the film has been the type of grassroots marketing campaign a PR can only dream of. After the now-deleted account @AuroraFaced posted the best possible pull quote for the film by writing on X (formerly Twitter), "Libs saw how the anti-woke crowd embraced Sydney Sweeney as their new darling and right away had to shove her in this blasphemous, Satanic, feminist, pro-abortion, anti-life movie degrading Christians! This movie also debases Mary, Mother of the Christ!", Neon, who distributed the film, quickly turned the post into a viral poster, and most certainly inspired some ticket purchases in the process.

"Immaculate...

“Immaculate” marks the latest project to star Sydney Sweeney, who is known for television shows like “Euphoria” and “The White Lotus” and Sony’s latest superhero endeavor “Madame Web.” Sweeney also made up half of the dynamic duo — alongside Glen Powell — that brought “Anyone but You” to box office success, and just as she produced that rom-com, she’s a producer on the horror film “Immaculate.”

Director Michael Mohan had high praises for Sweeney, whom he has worked with before. The director was inspired by “The Devils” (1971) directed by Ken Russell as well as other Italian horror films to shape the story of Sweeney’s Cecelia.

For those in the Sydney Sweeney fandom or avid horror fans, we’ve rounded up the details of how to watch “Immaculate” below:

When does “Immaculate” come out?

After world premiering at the SXSW Film Festival in March, the Neon movie arrives in theaters on Friday,...

Between The Nun II, Sister Death, Consecration, the upcoming The First Omen, and the newly released Immaculate, starring Sydney Sweeney, it’s safe to say that nuns are having a moment in horror. So often, fear thrives in the unlit nooks of the unknown, and for many of us, that includes those who dedicate themselves to religious orders. Shrouded in intrigue and literal fabric, the combo of unwavering religious devotion and rejection of various worldly pleasures makes nuns ripe for genre exploration. While nuns are certainly trending, this is by no means the first time horror has blessed us with terrifying tales featuring such religious women.

In Häxan (1922), possessed nuns mingle with witches as director Benjamin Christensen explores the connection between mental health and mass hysteria. With movies like Alucarda (1975), Ms. 45 (1981), and St. Agatha (2018), the subgenre of nunsploitation comes into play to further explore themes of religious and sexual oppression.

The Nun II was released in 2023, reminding audiences of the wicked and wild world of Nunsploitation horror. Nunsploitation, you say? If you're not a major horror buff, this may be a new subgenre for you to explore. Nunsploitation is very niche but focuses on creating an unsettling environment in a place where many people find solace: the church. This type of horror has been around since the 1920s, with classics like Häxan sending shockwaves to viewers who have never seen such demented acts from a Godly woman on screen. From here, films like The Devils, Killer Nun, The Nun, and The Nun II started emerging from the depths of hell to remind you that evil finds a way, no matter how holy a person is.

[Editor’s note: This story was originally published September 2023. It has since been updated ahead of the release of “Immaculate.”]

In the real world, nuns typically lead simple, quiet lives. Taking vows of chastity and obedience in order to fully devote themselves to God, the average nun — be she Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, or some other denomination — gives up her worldly possessions in exchange for the pursuit of greater spiritual purpose, often spending her life in a monastery or convent and focusing on prayer, charity, and schooling. For some, that’s a fulfilling path, but it’s also maybe not the most interesting story to watch.

And yet onscreen, nuns can be whatever the director wants them to be. They can be the singing, lovable anti-Nazis in “The Sound of Music.” They can be the bawdy and hilarious R&b superstars in “Sister Act.” In some films, like Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta,” they spit in the face of those vows of chastity to engage in some sacrilegiously steamy antics.

It doesn’t take a theologist to see that “Immaculate” director Michael Mohan probably grew up a devout Catholic.

His new horror movie stars Sydney Sweeney as a flung-from-innocence novice nun who arrives at a Roman convent bubbling with religious fealty — only to become the vessel for an immaculate conception gone horrifically wrong. Taking advantage of the film’s on-location shoot, Mohan, who previously directed the “Euphoria” and “Anyone but You” breakout in his erotic thriller “The Voyeurs,” steeps the shocker in religious iconography that veers from the saintly to the satanic.

“I grew up super devout Catholic,” Mohan told IndieWire. And “every Catholic person has guilt and trauma.” That’s for sure, as the Neon release mashes references to Ken Russell’s “The Devils,” Roman Polanski’s “Rosemary’s Baby,” and even Darren Aronofsky’s “mother!” in charting Sister Cecilia’s (Sweeney) psychological undoing in the process of being emblemized...

Nunsploitation appears to be alive and well in 2024 with this week’s arrival of Immaculate, a convent-set horror movie that borrows heavily from ’70s Italian horror, the peak era of the exploitation film. Nunsploitation, a subgenre of exploitation films that hit its prime in the late ’70s and early ’80s, often features nuns behaving badly. More importantly, nunsploitation films explore themes of sexual or religious repression, frequently unleashing scathing critiques of the Church through blasphemous imagery and nuns behaving badly.

This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to nunsploitation horror. These taboo-shattering horror movies have more on their mind than their low-budget exploitation origins suggest.

Here’s where you can stream them this week.

For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.

Alucarda – Cultpix

Directed and co-written by Juan López Moctezuma, this English-language Mexican horror film stars Tina Romero as Alucarda, who was raised by nuns at a repressive Catholic convent.

Sydney Sweeney has become a recognizable presence on television, garnering acclaim for her outstanding portrayal of Cassie Howard in the popular HBO series Euphoria. Her remarkable performance in the show even earned her an Emmy nomination.

Euphoria

With that said, Sydney Sweeney has clearly branched out and become a huge star in the world of Hollywood, as she has acted in films such as Anyone But You, which turned out to be a Box Office Hit. However, her latest film Immaculate doesn’t live up to its name as it has far too many plot holes.

Sydney Sweeney’s Immaculate Is Full of Plotholes Immaculate

According to Screen Daily, Michael Mohan’s latest feature, Immaculate, premiered at SXSW. Despite hopes of captivating genre fans, it faces tough competition from more accomplished religious horror films like The Nun series or The Devils. Its potential success lies partly with Sydney Sweeney’s emerging starpower,...

There’s nothing quite like a nun horror movie to remind us that the line between the sacred and the terrifying is thinner than a communion wafer. In this unholy listicle, we’re diving deep into the cloistered corners of horror cinema to bring you the ultimate guide to nunsploitation. So, whether you’ve taken your holy orders or you’re just a horror enthusiast looking for your next sacrilegious scare, join us on this divine journey through some of the most unholy tales ever told on screen.

From demonic possessions to gothic tales of madness and despair unfolding on hallowed ground, nun horror movies have a unique way of getting under our skin. Maybe it’s the way they juxtapose the purity of the habit with the darkness of the supernatural, or perhaps it’s just that nuns have always had a knack for knowing what’s lurking in the shadows.

2021’s Dune may have missed out on the Oscar for Best Costume Design, but if there was an honor given out for red carpet wardrobe, the cast of Dune: Part Two might have it in the bag – but they couldn’t have done it without Zendaya.

We here at JoBlo.com don’t normally hit on fashion (you should see our closets!), but Zendaya’s get-up is just too incredible not to highlight. Appearing in an outfit that was part Metropolis, part Barbarella and part space cowboy in assless chaps, Zendaya’s digs felt like something that might have caused C-3Po to pose for this card…It has been identified as a piece from Mugler’s 1995 collection, but no doubt remains a futuristic look that stole pretty much all of the attention. Zendaya would make a wardrobe change that found her in a sleek black dress, but the statement...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (Raven Jackson)

A film that feels uprooted from deep beneath the earth, Raven Jackson’s poetic, patient debut is a distillation of cinema to its purest form, a stunning patchwork of experience and memory. Tethered around the life of Mack, a Black woman from Mississippi, as we witness glimpses of her childhood, teenage years, and beyond, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt becomes a sensory experience unlike anything else this year. Shot in beautiful 35mm by Jomo Fray and edited by Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s collaborator Lee Chatametikool, there’s a reverence for nature and joy for human connection that seems all too rarified in today’s landscape of American filmmaking. – Jordan R.

Where to Stream: VOD...

Experimental French filmmaker Bertrand Mandico isn’t for everyone — i.e. an acquired taste whose visions push boundaries of cinematic expression — but he’s achieved something of a cult fandom over the last three decades. After last pairing with the director on 2022’s “After Blue” and 2017’s uninhibited Venice winner “The Wild Boys” — Cahiers du Cinéma’s top film of 2018 — the distributor Altered Innocence again teams with Mandico on another provocation. His 2023 Cannes premiere “She Is Conann,” nominated for the Queer Palm before going on to play at other festivals including Locarno, is an acid-trip transgressive riff on the Conan the Barbarian myth. IndieWire shares the trailer here.

Influences on the film include Tony Scott’s “The Hunger,” the works of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Liliana Cavani’s “The Night Porter,” and Fellini’s “Satyricon.” Throw Ken Russell in there for good measure, with profane images in “She Is Conann” reminiscent of “The Devils.

Catering directly to my interests, the Criterion Channel’s January lineup boasts two of my favorite things: James Gray and cats. In the former case it’s his first five features (itself a terrible reminder he only released five movies in 20 years); the latter shows felines the respect they deserve, from Kuroneko to The Long Goodbye, Tourneur’s Cat People and Mick Garris’ Sleepwalkers. Meanwhile, Ava Gardner, Bertrand Tavernier, Isabel Sandoval, Ken Russell, Juleen Compton, George Harrison’s HandMade Films, and the Sundance Film Festival get retrospectives.

Restorations of Soviet sci-fi trip Ikarie Xb 1, The Unknown, and The Music of Regret stream, as does the recent Plan 75. January’s Criterion Editions are Inside Llewyn Davis, Farewell Amor, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and (most intriguingly) the long-out-of-print The Man Who Fell to Earth, Blu-rays of which go for hundreds of dollars.

See the lineup below and learn more here.

Back By Popular Demand

The Graduate,...

Plot: A woman (Emma Stone) is revived and given a new brain by a mad doctor (Willem Dafoe). Initially childlike and naive, she’s seduced into a sexual journey of discovery by a lothario (Mark Ruffalo), only to eventually come into her own as a woman.

Review: Poor Things is similar – in many ways – to Barbie. Well, ok, Barbie didn’t flirt with the boundaries of an R-rating or feature a deformed Willem Dafoe, but it was about a woman who was ostensibly a naive creation coming into her own as a person. Like that movie, Poor Things, which is based on the book by Alasdair Gray, feels like a film very much of its time without making the message at its heart overly didactic. More than anything, Poor Things is delirious, provocative entertainment.

It’s the kind of movie only someone like Yorgos Lanthimos could have ever gotten made,...

Rick and Morty season 7 acknowledges their cameo in Space Jam 2 was a bad idea. The show has a history of meta gags and breaking the fourth wall, including appearing in other movies and TV shows. The cameo in Space Jam 2 felt out of place, considering Rick and Morty's adult cartoon nature, and the scene itself was not particularly funny.

Warning: Major spoilers for Rick and Morty season 7 "Rickfending Your Mort" episode 6 below!Rick and Morty season 7 just admitted the character's bizarre cameos in Space Jam 2 were a bad idea. Ever since the Adult Swim animated adventure began it's been intensely meta and willing to break the fourth wall. From characters speaking directly to viewers or commenting on the varying quality of past seasons, the show has always been commenting on itself. This carries over to Rick and Morty's willingness to pop up in other movies or TV shows.

While there’s plenty to be said and appreciated about cozy, comforting horror that offers catharsis, the genre’s ultimate aim is to terrify, shock, and even repulse. Of course, there is no shortage of ways that filmmakers accomplish this, frequently through gore, violence, and potent scare tactics, but transgressive horror is in a league of its own.

More than just gore, transgressive horror films revel in the taboo. Transgressive horror shatters cultural norms and seeks to explore beyond the boundaries of taste and social sensibilities, challenging viewers with shocking and sacrilegious imagery and themes. And yet, it’s not solely for shock value; transgressive horror has more on its mind than simply gore and depictions of depravity. There’s a purpose behind the pain. This week’s streaming picks are for the seekers of extreme cinema, unafraid to test their limits.

Here’s where you can stream them this week.

Since launching in beta in the U.S. in 2015, the horror-focused streaming service Shudder has developed a unique reputation for quality in streaming, even as its parent company AMC Networks has grappled with the same financial ills affecting the landscape at large.

One of the most well-known and celebrated brands in AMC’s portfolio of niche streamers, Shudder was conceived as a destination for horror consumers of all kinds, from the most seasoned to the most nascent. Per VP Global Acquisitions and Co-Productions Emily Gotto, one of the platform’s principal architects, the hope has been to be very intentional in onboarding new titles, programming in such a way as to cultivate an appreciation of the “length and breadth” of the genre.

Like more deep-pocketed services, Shudder ramped up on exclusive acquisitions and originals after building its foundation on a slew of library titles. But given its relative lack of resources — in comparison to,...

It says a lot about the history of nunsploitation cinema that “The Nun II,” which opens with a scary ghost nun levitating a priest and setting him spectacularly on fire, is one of the more understated entries in the genre.

That’s not to say “The Nun II” is a subtle film, or a thoughtful film, or even a good film. It’s just that when you share space on the video store shelf with Ken Russell’s “The Devils” and Bruno Mattei’s “The Other Hell,” a bunch of cheesy random jump scares wrapped around a tepid storyline just doesn’t stand out much.

Even compared to Corin Hardy’s first “The Nun” movie — itself the fifth entry in the “Conjuring” franchise, with “The Nun II” now the ninth — Michael Chaves’s sequel is a major step down. Hardy’s stylish horror adventure was energetic enough to entertain despite its egregious silliness.

While the 1970s was known as a wild, bold, experimental time in modern cinema—which extended to all genres, including science fiction—the 1980s were best known for… well, we don’t know what, exactly. The rise of the erotic thriller, the action superstar, and cookie-cutter safe high-concept star vehicles, perhaps? As for sci-fi, the decade was marked by both undisputed blockbusters, including the Star Wars and Star Trek sequels, Aliens, and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, as well as some inarguable classics like The Thing, Tron, and Blade Runner. Intriguingly, the more risky ones needed years to find their audience and critical acclaim.

At the same time, sci-fi began to rely less on literary adaptations of the previous decade and more on crossing its streams with other genres, like horror, the Western, and the action thriller—making somewhat of a turn away from the idea-driven films that had come before.

Glenda Jackson, who segued from a successful actress — Oscars for “Women in Love” and “A Touch of Class” and two Emmys for “Elizabeth R” — into a 23-year career as member of the U.K.’s House of Commons, has died. She was 87.

Jackson died after a brief illness at her home in London, her agent Lionel Larner said. “Glenda Jackson, two-time Academy Award-winning actress and politician, died peacefully at her home in Blackheath, London this morning after a brief illness with her family at her side. She recently completed filming ‘The Great Escaper’ in which she co-starred with Michael Caine,” Larner said in a statement.

Aside from her prize-winning roles, Jackson gave terrific performances in such films as 1967’s “Marat/Sade” (as Charlotte Corday), “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and on TV in “The Patricia Neal Story,” a 1981 work about that actress’s stroke and recovery with husband Roald Dahl. A defining role in...

The Who's "Tommy" is one of the most groundbreaking concept albums in rock and roll history, and is considered by many to be one of the best albums ever written. After its debut in 1969, "Tommy" has been adapted in a variety of different mediums, including a ballet, an opera, a restructured work for the London Symphony Orchestra, a Broadway musical, and most notably, the cinematic rock and roll masterpiece by Ken Russell. Four years before directing "Tommy," Russell put out the controversial religious horror erotica, "The Devils," which /Film's Chris Evangelista rightfully described as "a punk rock freakshow disguised as a period piece." Considering the story of "Tommy," Russell was the perfect director for the job.

The story follows a young man named Tommy (Roger Daltrey) who after witnessing his mother's lover murder his father, disassociates from reality. He's surrounded by sadistic neighbors and relatives and is in desperate need of escapism,...

The assault allegation against “Jeanne du Barry” writer/director/star Maïwenn has become even more complex.

After Maïwenn admitted to attacking French journalist Edwy Plenel, the Mediapart magazine editor-in-chief is citing Maïwenn’s possible motive: retaliation for the publication reporting on her ex-husband Luc Besson’s sexual abuse allegations. “Léon, the Professional” director Besson was accused in 2018 of repeatedly raping Dutch-Belgian actress Sand Van Roy over the course of two years, as well as multiple other women. The case against Besson was dismissed in 2021 after an investigation.

Maïwenn was married to Besson in 1992; she was 16 years old when they wed. Besson knew Maïwenn since she was age 12, and the couple began dating when the actress was 15 years old. Maïwenn said during the 1994 DVD extras for controversial film “Léon, the Professional” that the central relationship was inspired by her and Besson’s love story. The couple divorced in 1997.

“We published what...