Sci-fi monster super death cage match

“Alien vs. Predator” is only the latest example of that perennial sci-fi subgenre known as the crossover — where two characters from two different series cross into one another’s storytelling territories. In the case of “AvP,” you can even divide it further into the sub-subgenre known informally as “Who’d kick whose butt?” … But why stop at Aliens and Predators? Here’s a full fight card matching up more than a dozen other movie monsters, tough guys and villains.

Originally published on msnbc.com Aug. 19, 2004. Read the complete article.

Beyond ‘Buffy’: State of sci-fi on TV

“Buffy” is long gone, and the “Angel” TV series just had a stake driven through it. “Farscape” was cancelled long ago, and the “Star Trek” franchise has for years been zooming at Warp Nine to the Suckitude Galaxy.

Is there anything out there on TV for a science-fiction fan to look forward to? You won’t find much of it on the big broadcast networks, unfortunately — only one new show focused on science fiction or fantastical themes is debuting on the older, larger broadcast networks, namely NBC’s “Revelations,” and it looks pretty terrible.

But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing on the radar that looks promising—far from it. Here’s a quick roundup of the shows that have us most intrigued, some nearly ready for broadcast, some just wisps of rumor.

Originally published on msnbc.com July 16, 2004. Read the complete article.

Can Stephen King bring horror back to TV?

Miraculous healings, corpses covered by swarms of ants, an artist afflicted with terrifying telepathic powers and haunted by the dead. It’s the latest frightfest from Stephen King, the most trusted brand name in the horror genre. His new 15-hour miniseries, “Kingdom Hospital,” premieres March 3 on ABC.

Though inspired by Lars von Trier’s acclaimed Danish series “The Kingdom,” the American version has lots of signature King touches, including the character Peter Ritter (played by Jack Coleman of “Dynasty”), who’s brought to the hospital when he’s run over by a drug-impaired driver, which happened to King himself in 1999.

King has brought his work to television roughly a dozen times over the years, with varying success. The best of his small-screen set was the 1994 miniseries of his sprawling post-apocalypse novel “The Stand,” but like King’s “The Green Mile,” that was a fantasy with dark overtones rather than an outright scarefest.

However, TV is now taking to King’s pure-horror works with a bloody vengeance. Besides “Kingdom Hospital,” there’ll soon be a new miniseries of his vampire novel “Salem’s Lot,” and ABC plans on an adaptation of his Richard Bachman book “Desperation” in 2005.

King’s previous attempts to bring pure horror to TV have been markedly less sanguine. This goes especially for the pointless TV retreads of “Carrie” and “The Shining,” which had already been perfected on film and seem more like attempts to capitalize on King’s profitable marquee name. It’s nice to see that “Salem’s Lot” is being tried again, though — the first TV adaptation, in 1979, was a disaster despite the directorial effort of “Texas Chain Saw Massacre” helmer Tobe Hooper. A nonsensical script and poor acting staked it long before it rose from its coffin.

Originally published on msnbc.com March 1, 2004. Read the complete article.

Interview: David Cronenberg

David Cronenberg is infamous for his unique style of horror filmmaking. His films–among them The Fly, Naked Lunch, and Dead Ringers–gaze with icy formalism on worlds where biology has gone mad. They’re a catalogue of physical breakdowns, sexual dysfunctions, florid mutations and hallucinations. His latest, Spider, based on Patrick McGrath’s novel, stars Ralph Fiennes as a muttering, schizophrenic Londoner who obsessively scribbles notes in an invented alphabet, struggling to make sense out of his fractured relationship with his mother (Miranda Richardson, terrific in a triple role). Quieter and largely grue-free, it’s still a clearly Cronenbergian film, and his best in years. The Rake crashed into the director recently for a Q&A.

Originally published in Rake Magazine Feb. 21, 2003. Read the complete article.