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Allison Janney is a likely – and deserving – contender for Best Drama Guest Actress for playing a woman only just discovering her sexuality on Showtime's "Masters of Sex," but as good as she was, I hope she doesn't overshadow Julianne Nicholson, who had an equally impactful arc as a doctor pushing against the glass ceiling of the 1950s medical establishment. -Break- Listen in on 'Masters of Sex' stars' intimate chat with Emmy voters I first noticed Nicholson in the little-seen fantasy series "The Others" in 2000, and since then she's become the kind of actor who makes a project more interesting just by being in it, from "Ally McBeal" to "Boardwalk Empire" and, most recently, "August: Osage County." She gave my favorite performance in "August," playing Ivy, arguably the most level-headed of the Weston clan and thus lacking the kinds of flamboyant ...

And the new sci-fi series just keep on coming! How did we get so lucky? The latest news on the new series front is from BBC America, who has announced it has given the green light to 8 episodes of new original series Intruders. Based on Michael Marshall Smith‘s novel The Intruders, with a script by Glen Morgan (The X-Files, Millennium, The Others, The River), the new series is set to begin production in early spring 2014.

The series is about a “secret society devoted to chasing immortality by seeking refuge in the bodies of others.” Excellent.

BBC America Orders New Original Series Intruders From BBC Worldwide Productions

New York – Friday, October 18 – BBC America has greenlit new original thriller series, Intruders, produced by BBC Worldwide Productions. Glen Morgan (The X-Files, Those Who Kill), writer and executive producer, has penned the script based on Michael Marshall Smith’s novel The Intruders. Executive...

Last year we ran a schedule of every TV/Cable network schedule we could find that could be construed as Horror or Halloween related for the month of October. Let’s just say it proved useful for our readers and even for our staff when they were looking to find something to watch, wanted to program their DVR’s or didn’t want to miss out on some great “live” Horror. Isn’t there something about having a movie fed to you on TV as opposed to watching it on Blu-ray or DVD or streaming? We may not like commercials, but the randomness that you can associate with a TV program itinerary is novel. It removes a little bit of control from the audience who is all to concerned with being in control these days (just look at the reasons behind publishing a piece like this).

So here’s the 2013 Halloween Seasonal TV Preview,...

From the press release:

Are you ready for a spine-chilling global avalanche of Indian zombies, Israeli oldboys, vengeance-crazed Vikings, Swedish mesmerists, Irish telekinesis, Argentine undead, Aussie bone-crushers, murderous Mormons and Chilean assassins?

Film4 FrightFest 2013, returning for its 4teenth year, has unveiled its biggest line-up in history. From Thurs 22 August to Monday 26 August, the UK’s leading event for genre fans will be at the Empire Cinema in London’s Leicester Square to present 51 films on three screens. Empire 1 will house the main event while the Discovery strands will play in Empires 2 & 4. The new FrightFest Xtra strand, also in Screen 2, will allow fans to catch up with sold-out performances of the most popular attractions.

This year there are eleven countries representing five continents with a record-breaking thirty-three UK or European premieres and ten world premieres.

The world premieres include our opening night attraction The Dead 2: India from the Ford Brothers,...

It’s always great news when a show idea we’ve been following actually starts casting; it gets us thinking that the thing might actually get made. We first told you about Occult, a pilot picked up by A&E, last fall. It’s a Michael Bay (Transformers) -produced series about an FBI occult crimes task force, centering on FBI Agent Dolan, who joins the new unit upon his return from administrative leave, so ordered after going off the deep end while investigating his wife’s disappearance.

(L-r) Morris, Lucas, Collins

Word now comes from TVLine that things are moving along in the casting department, with the most recent hire being Sarah Jane Morris (NCIS) as that missing wife. So presumably we’ll be seeing her in flashbacks, or… hmm!

She’ll be joining star Josh Lucas (Space Warriors) as Agent Dolan; Lynn Collins (John Carter) as his new partner...

The following is a list of all comic books, graphic novels and specialty items that will be available this week and shipped to comic book stores who have placed orders for them.

12-gauge Comics

Anti #4 (Of 4)(not verified by Diamond), $3.99

Abrams

Faeryland The Secret World Of The Hidden Ones Hc, $27.50

Star Wars Storyboards The Prequel Trilogy Hc, $40.00

Abrams Comicarts

Bazooka Joe And His Gang Hc, $19.95

Action Lab Entertainment

Double Jumpers #4 (not verified by Diamond), $3.99

Amulet Books

Army Of Frogs A Kulipari Novel Hc, $15.95

Antarctic Press

Miles Away Gn, $14.95

Ape Entertainment

Drew Hayes’ Poison Elves #2 (Cover A Darick Robertson), $2.99

Drew Hayes’ Poison Elves #2 (Cover B Osvaldo MonPeller), $2.99

Drew Hayes’ Poison Elves #2 (Cover C Darick Robertson), Ar

Archaia Entertainment

Strange Attractors Hc, $19.95

Archie Comic Publications

Archie And Friends Double Digest #27, $3.99

Jinx Volume 2 Little Miss Steps Hc (not verified by Diamond), $16.99

Jinx Volume 2 Little Miss Steps Sc (not verified by Diamond), $9.99

Mega Man Volume 5 Rock Of Ages Tp,...

He made a name for himself on the superhero drama Heroes, portrays a psychiatrist on FX's American Horror Story and is currently gearing up for the release of Star Trek Into Darkness, in which he plays the iconic Vulcan character Spock. Here are five things you may not know about Zachary Quinto.

1. Born Zachary John Quinto on June 2, 1977 in Pittsburgh, Pa - he's half Italian, half Irish.

Pics: Star Sightings

2. His TV debut came in 2000 in the pilot of the short-lived series The Others.

3. Was involved in a serious car accident at age 16 that he says led to a discussion with his mom about responsibility. "I blurted out, 'I wanna be an actor,'" he said. "That, somehow, just turned it. I think she saw in my impassioned plea something serious about what I was after."

Video: Star Trek Stars Take on Warp Speed Round 

4. Struck up a friendship with the original Spock, Leonard Nimoy, while...

Birthday shoutouts go to Taylor Kitsch (above), who is 32, Patricia Arquette is 45, and Brenda Russell is 64.

Dan Savage has two questions about the death of Margaret Thatcher. In a less controversial passing, goodbye to the faboo Annette Funicello.Surprising no one, "Roger Ebert's Funeral To Be Picketed By Westboro Baptist Church."#nowthatchersdead. This is too funny.After just a few episodes, A&E has renewed Bates Motel for Season Two.Chord photobombs Diana and Darren.

Ed showed you this terrible commercial for Greek ticket company AirFastTravel last week, and now comes word that it's been pulled from the airwaves after complaints from Greece's trucker and Lgbt communities.

Introducing the children's coloring book Being Gay Is Okay.

Apparently there was a huge Twitter war yesterday involving whosit from One Direction and whatsisface from The Wanted, which culminated in that one guy crapping out this questionable tweet. Now Wheatus has weighed in.

He made a name for himself on the superhero drama Heroes and currently portrays psychiatrist Dr. Oliver Thredson on FX's haunting drama American Horror Story -- premiering tonight at 10 o'clock! Here are five things you probably don't know about Zachary Quinto. 

1. Born Zachary John Quinto on June 2, 1977 in Pittsburgh, Pa - he's half Italian and half Irish.

Related: Zachary Quinto: I'm Gay

2. His TV debut came in 2000 in the pilot of the short-lived series The Others.

3. Struck up a friendship with Leonard Nimoy while portraying the actor's iconic role as Spock in J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot Star Trek.

Video: Ahs: Asylum Cast Talks Season Two

4. Was involved in a serious car accident at age 16 that he says led to a discussion with his mom about responsibility. "I blurted out, 'I wanna be an actor,'" he once told an interviewer. "That, somehow, just turned it. I think she saw in my impassioned plea something serious...

Just look at A&E and its pilot orders! It’s giving a good impression of a network that would like to lure People Like Us into its viewership with Our Kind of TV. We’ve been telling you about their Psycho prequel Bates Motel since they first announced it last January; we’ve since reported that our beloved Lost co-showrunner Carlton Cuse will be showrunner for the series, and that A&E has ordered ten episodes.

Now comes news that A&E is dipping its network toes into the supernatural side of creepy with a pilot order for a Michael Bay (Transformers) -produced series about a new (sorry kids, it’s just fictional) FBI occult crimes task force, entitled, appropriately, Occult. It will center on an FBI agent who joins the new unit upon his return from administrative leave, so ordered after “going off the deep end” while investigating his wife’s disappearance.

Since its first publication in 1983, Susan Hill’s Gothic chiller The Woman in Black has been terrorising audiences, from teenagers studying the novel in English lessons to horror aficionados like Mark Kermode, who wrote a chapter on the novel for his PhD in horror fiction. Its reputation has been subsequently enhanced by the long-running stage play, which left the author of this piece so scared, he had to be prised from his chair with a crowbar.

The most recent incarnation of The Woman in Black (our review Here) was released in cinemas on February 10th, with the backing of the reformed Hammer brand and the star power of Daniel Radcliffe in his first proper post-Potter role. It joins a ream of recent ghost stories to make it to our screens, including The Others, The Orphanage and The Awakening. What explains this resurgence for old-fashioned horror of creaks, shadows and suggestion?...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn - Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig

Black Gold (limited) - Tahar Rahim, Mark Strong, Antonio Banderas

The Darkest Hour - Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer

War Horse - Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, David Thewlis

We Bought a Zoo - Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church

Movie of the Week

The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn

The Stars: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig

The Plot: Tintin and Captain Haddock set off on a treasure hunt for a sunken ship commanded by Haddock’s ancestor. But someone else is in search of the ship.

The Buzz: One of two Spielberg films in release this weekend (War Horse being the other). I’m not too crazy about the animation,...

When it comes to horror films, Americans must humbly bow their heads and concede defeat to their international brethren. Sure, Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, George Romero and others deserve all the accolades they've received, but as the below films prove, clever horror knows no American territoriality.

Eerie houses, ghost eyes, and sadistic doctors can be found anywhere.

Here are nine extremely scary exports every horror fan needs to see.

'The Eye' (2002)

Country: Hong Kong

Why So Scary: You'll hear this a lot from us, but skip the 2008 remake starring Jessica Alba (if you even remember it) and check out the Pang brothers' tale of a blind woman who receives a corneal transplant and begins seeing strange, dark figures everywhere she goes. It'd be a betrayal to give away any more than that. Let's just say we dug our fingers into the seat cushion more times than we'd like to admit.

Back in September, we told you about Macabre Mansion‘s original Audio Drama adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe‘s short story The Fall Of The House Of Usher. The audio drama stars the voice talents of Kevin Sorbo (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys), John Billingsley (True Blood), Bonita Friedericy (Chuck), and Jim O’Rear (The Dead Matter).

The CD is now available and a portion of the proceeds are being donated to charity. Check out the press release below for all the details.

For Immediate Release

Now Available! Macabre Mansion® Presents “The Fall Of The House Of Usher” – an original Audio Drama adaptation of the short story by Edgar Allan Poe. Starring Kevin Sorbo (“Hercules, the Legendary Journeys”, “Gene Roddenberry’s, Andromeda”), John Billingsley (Star Trek: Enterprise, “The Others”, “True Blood” “2012″), Bonita Friedericy (NBC’s Chuck), and Jim O’Rear (The Dead Matter, Day Of The Dead, Star Trek 4, Lethal Weapon 3,...

For immediate release

Coming to Compact Disc this October

Macabre Mansion® Presents “The Fall Of The House Of Usher” – an original Audio Drama adaptation of the short story by Edgar Allan Poe. Starring Kevin Sorbo (“Hercules, the Legendary Journeys”, “Gene Roddenberry’s, Andromeda”), John Billingsley (Star Trek: Enterprise, “The Others”, “True Blood” “2012″), Bonita Friedericy (NBC’s Chuck), and Jim O’Rear (The Dead Matter, Day Of The Dead, Star Trek 4, Lethal Weapon 3, Cop & 1/2).

This adaptation stays true to Poe’s original vision with only minor changes in dialogue. The script consists of four speaking roles; Roderick Usher, Madeline Usher, the family Doctor and the Narrator who is an un-named childhood friend of Roderick. The Audio Drama will have the same feel and style of the classic Old Time Radio shows.

A portion of the proceeds from “The Fall Of The House Of Usher” are being donated to “A World Fit For Kids” – http://www.

Monthly Movie Preview – September 2010

The summer movie season is now over. But don’t start saving all of your movie-going money for the winter award season just yet. There are plenty of films coming out this month that have some specialness to them, and are therefore more likely to be worthy of your movie-going attention.

On the mainstream circuit, we’ve got scheduled a full-length feature version of the Grindhouse trailer for Machete, a fourth Resident Evil film, a teen comedy starring breakout Emma Stone, a horror movie “from the mind of M. Night Shyamalan,” and more! As for the limited releases, September is giving us two directorial debuts – Casey Affleck’s I’m Still Here and Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Jack Goes Boating, along with other notable releases like Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go. Lest we not forget, that-movie-with-Van-Wilder-in-a-box, Buried, is also finally coming out at the end of the month.

Editor's Note: We're always on the lookout for good new writers here at Dread Central, and with the addition of MattFini we hit pay dirt! Matt's not only one of our best and brightest, but he's also as opinionated as they come. You're almost always guaranteed to be either infuriated or amused at his musings. Each day this week he'll be posting his own Halloween Top 10 lists. Agree? Disagree? Laugh! Cry! Sound off inside!

Without further ado ... the man, the myth, the lunatic, our very own Masked Slasher, MattFini!

This past weekend saw the upset of the ages as sleeper hit Paranormal Activity bested the reigning champion that is the Saw franchise at the box office. So, in honor of one of the scariest films to come along in a while, we thought it’d be fun to offer a countdown of the 10 greatest ghost films ever made.

In the end,...

Here comes the fall. And I’m not talking about the seasons. Normally fall is when you notice the blockbusters, and the quality of those blockbusters, drop a touch.

But then again, what did August do for you? I loved Inglorious Basterds … and there was some decent escapes for dates like Julie & Julia and The Time Traveler’s Wife. It seems I’m in the minority thinking District 9 is only “pretty good.”

So what can we expect from September? Mike Judge returns to live-action features with Extract. Our blockbuster leftovers give us Whiteout and Surrogates. Michael Moore will try for another documentary full of impact with Capitalism: a Love Story. And Fame will try to prove that it truly can live forever. I wonder if they’ll also learn how to fly (high). I’m pinning my hopes on The Informant! and that kooky, crazy comedian Matt Damon.

September...

ABC unveiled its 2009-2010 primetime schedule this morning and here is the full press release:

Stephen McPherson, president, ABC Entertainment Group, today outlined ABC's plans for next season and unveiled the network's 2009-10 fall schedule before the advertising and media communities at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall.

New fall and midseason series include "Cougar Town," "The Deep End," "Eastwick," "Flash Forward," "The Forgotten," "Hank," "Happy Town," "The Middle," "Modern Family," "Shark Tank" and "V."

"Better Off Ted," "Castle," "Scrubs" and "True Beauty" join previously announced returning series "America's Funniest Home Videos," "The Bachelor," "Brothers & Sisters," "Dancing with the Stars," "Desperate Housewives," "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," "Grey's Anatomy," "Lost," "Private Practice," "Supernanny," "Ugly Betty," "Wife Swap" and 20/20. "Saturday Night College Football" will also return.

"Our focus is always on delivering the best stories with the most memorable characters on TV, whether that's established audience favorites or innovative new shows," said McPherson.

The movie studio executives play God around this time every year. Don’t listen to mother nature … summer starts May 1. The blockbusters are upon us, and it looks like May might just be The big month of movies this year. Sure, we have to wait for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, but we’ve already been waiting for that last one for a while now. And it looks like each week we will have a new box office winner … my hunch is Wolverine will have the biggest opening weekend, but when it’s all said and done, Star Trek will be box office king. Let’s get to the films.

May 1 Movie of the Week

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

The Stars: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Will I Am, Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kitsch

The Plot:...

Normally, I would warn readers when the back of a DVD gives away a crucial Spoiler about the film. In this case, the summary reveals not just a minor secret, but, in fact, the movie’s “astonishing twist.” Not only that, but it discloses the “astonishing twist” in the first sentence. The reason I’ve quoted and repeated “astonishing twist” (their words, not mine) is that said “twist” is laughingly foreseeable and, if there’s anything “astonishing” about The Morgue, it’s that Lionsgate bothered to distribute this direct-to-dvd release. That’s why I would suggest, if you have any interest in the film (and choose to ignore my forthcoming attempts to dissuade you from seeing The Morgue), you should actually read the revealing description on the DVD case, skip the movie and be thankful you have 84 more minutes of free time in your day.

Margo (Lisa Crilley) works as...

Much like Transformers turned Megan Fox into an instant star, Watchmen has created yet another, Malin Akerman. Aside from the obvious fact that they are both beautiful women, who are they and what makes them so special? How did they make their way to Hollywood stardom? PopStar takes a look at the career paths of these two extraordinary women... Malin Ackerman Malin, who turns 31 next month, hails from Stockholm, Sweden. She made her debut in Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict in an episode called "Truth" as the Avatar. This was during its first season, which would go on to produce a total of four. It would be three years before we would see her again, this time playing a small role in the movie, The Skulls. She was Caleb's roommate, played by Paul Walker. That same year, she played in the pilot episode of a television show called The Others,...

Much like Transformers turned Megan Fox into an instant star, Watchmen has created yet another, Malin Akerman. Aside from the obvious fact that they are both beautiful women, who are they and what makes them so special? How did they make their way to Hollywood stardom? PopStar takes a look at the career paths of these two extraordinary women... Malin Ackerman Malin, who turns 31 next month, hails from Stockholm, Sweden. She made her debut in Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict in an episode called "Truth" as the Avatar. This was during its first season, which would go on to produce a total of four. It would be three years before we would see her again, this time playing a small role in the movie, The Skulls. She was Caleb's roommate, played by Paul Walker. That same year, she played in the pilot episode of a television show called The Others,...

Much like Transformers turned Megan Fox into an instant star, Watchmen has created yet another, Malin Akerman. Aside from the obvious fact that they are both beautiful women, who are they and what makes them so special? How did they make their way to Hollywood stardom? PopStar takes a look at the career paths of these two extraordinary women... Malin Ackerman Malin, who turns 31 next month, hails from Stockholm, Sweden. She made her debut in Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict in an episode called "Truth" as the Avatar. This was during its first season, which would go on to produce a total of four. It would be three years before we would see her again, this time playing a small role in the movie, The Skulls. She was Caleb's roommate, played by Paul Walker. That same year, she played in the pilot episode of a television show called The Others,...

We reported just the other day on the cool cast for the Werner Herzog/David Lynch psychothriller My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, and now The Hollywood Reporter has more names to add. One of them is genre veteran Brad Dourif (pictured), and really, what would a Herzog/Lynch collaboration be without him?

Also joining the story of a man who believes himself to be part of a Sophocles play and slays his mother with a sword as a result are Michael Peña and Bill Cobbs (the latter from TV’s The Others). Herzog begins directing the movie, which is loosely based on an actual incident, in March; Unified Pictures and executive producer Lynch’s Absurda company are handling international sales.

In the final part of my 2009 American Film Market report and review roundup, I tackle another 11 movies that I caught during my annual Santa Monica moviegoing orgy. For an overview of the trip, see here; the first batch of reviews can be found here. And for more information on the Afm, held each November in Los Angeles, go here.

Not Quite Hollywood: Fans of “Ozploitation” will jump over the barbie for Mark Hartley’s winning documentary on exploitation films produced in Australia since the ’70s, tackling everything from Patrick to Wolf Creek. Just about anyone ever associated with an Australian genre film is interviewed here, including actors (Jamie Lee Curtis and Stacy Keach on Road Games; Dennis Hopper on Mad Dog Morgan), directors (George Miller, Brian Trenchard-Smith, the late Richard Franklin), screenwriters (Everett De Roche, who wrote almost every Aussie fright flick) and producers (Antony Ginnane, who wrangled financing for...

Alien, The Shining, Jaws, Jacob's Ladder, Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Photo: Fox / Universal / MGM Over at Hollywood-Elsewhere Jeff Wells points out that The New Yorker's Ben Greenman has listed what he believes to be the five scariest movies of all-time. His list goes as follows: Texas Chainsaw Massacre Tobe Hooper (1974) The Silence of the Lambs Jonathan Demme (1991) The Body Snatcher Robert Wise (1945) Night of the Hunter Charles Laughton (1955) Mulholland Drive David Lynch (2001) I haven't seen The Body Snatcher or Night of the Hunter but personally I don't think the other three are all that scary. I ask the question in the headline, What Do You Think are the Scariest Movies of All-time?, because I want to do a top ten list of scariest movies ever and need to make sure I watch as many films that are considered "scary" before I start my list. The Body Snatcher and Night...

A new interview was discovered today where Writer-Director John Harrison talks about his upcoming adaptation of Clive Barker's Book Of Blood, which has 10-minutes teased to a lucky Frightfest UK audience last month. Inside you can find word from Harrison, who says that the film won't be the blood-soaked horror film we all expected. "It has its moments, but it is not a gore-fest," John Harrison tells IFMagazine. "It is more of a supernatural thriller a la The Others, or The Orphanage. Very moody. Very character driven. We screened a preview of the first ten minutes at the Frightfest Festival here in London last week. Its the big U.K. horror festival, and thousands of fans come from all over the U.K., the U.S. and Europe."...